The MAD
by Stormbelle
Summary: When a disease that spreads craziness travels through the four clans, three warriors must find the cure, however, many dangerous cats stand in their way...and not all of them can plead insanity. The warriors must find the cure and the cause, to destroy the disease at it's roots. Will they have enough time? Or is it too late to stop the madness?
1. Alliances and Prologue

**A/N: Hiya! Hope you enjoy my first story! It may be a little rough, but I'll work it out around the edges as it goes along. :) Oh, and I'll probably be adding more warriors to the other clans, if anyone has any ideas of cat names and descriptions It'd be a great help. After naming a whole bunch of cats you start to get a little annoyed with trying to find original titles lol. Anyways, enjoy!**

_**Warriors**_

**Thunderclan**

_Leader:: _

Violetstar- A brilliant red tabby she-cat with dark blue eyes.

_Deputy:: _

Robintail- A black tom with white underbelly and paws and hazel eyes.

_Medicine Cat:: _

Russetspots- White she-cat with brown brindle spots covering her body, tail, and face. Violent green eyes. Very young.

_Medicine Cat Apprentice:: _

Sunpaw- A tabby she-cat with a white muzzle, throat, underbelly, and toes, amber eyes.

_Warriors:: _

Poolwing- A gray she-cat with long fur and light green eyes.

Ashwing- A black tom with gray-blue eyes and white on his tail, paws, and ears.

Hailstripe- A pure bright golden tom with bright blue eyes. Very weak and sickly.

Cinderfrost- A gray she-cat that's fur looks very soft. She has bright blue eyes.

Flamespin- Tabby tom with green eyes.

Darkstorm- Black tom with white paws, tail-tip, and chest. Green eyes.

Shimmerday- Golden tabby she-cat with blue eyes, cream chest and paws.

Quilfeather- Dark brown tabby she-cat with white underbelly, chest, muzzle, paws, and tail tip. Green eyes.

Whiskertail- white tom with hazel eyes.

Mouseheart- Gray tabby she-cat with gray eyes and gray toes.

_Apprentice: _Duskpaw

Lioneye- Golden tom with amber eyes and orange tail rings.

_Apprentice: _Fallingpaw

Stripeclaw- Gray striped she-cat with hazel eyes.

_Apprentice: _Heatherpaw

Squirrelpool- Brown tabby she-cat with grey eyes.

_Apprentice: _Morningpaw

Hollyblaze- Black she-cat with red eyes.

_Apprentice: _Graypaw

_Apprentices::_

Fallingpaw- Black tom with green eyes.

Morningpaw- Golden she-cat with green eyes.

Heatherpaw- Golden-brown she-cat with blue eyes.

Graypaw- Gray striped tom with amber eyes.

Duskpaw- Dusty brown striped tom with amber eyes.

_Queens::_

Spiderfur- Black she-cat with long legs and tail, amber eyes. She has dots around her eyes that make her look like a spider.

Yellowbelly- Golden she cat with cream belly and hazel eyes.

_Elders::_

Rowanfoot- Red tom with green eyes. Young warrior forced to be a part of the Elder's den because he lost sense of hearing.

**Riverclan**

_Leader::_

Sedgestar- Large white tom with amber eyes.

_Deputy::_

Firefeather- Calico she-cat with many battle-scars, it is obvious that she was once pretty but is now marred by horrible scars. Bright aqua eyes. Mate of Sedgestar.

_Medicine Cat::_

Dawnshine- light brown she-cat with green eyes.

_Medicine Cat Apprentice::_

Mistheart- Light gray she-cat with pale eyes.

_Warriors::_

Cypressheart- Gray she-cat with green eyes.

Roseblossom- Red siamese she-cat with blue eyes.

Bramblethorn- Dark brown tabby tom with green eyes and black tail tip.

Icenose- Cream and gray she-cat with grey paws, mask, and tail tip. Blue eyes.

Mossnose- Brown and white she-cat with green eyes.

Lilystream- White she-cat with blue eyes and grey paws, tailtip, and mask.

Frostspot- Gray she-cat with large white spot on her back, white ears, and white tail. Blue eyes.

Tigerflight Tan tom with black stripes and amber eyes.

Ivywing White she-cat with black tail tip and ears, green eyes.

_Apprentices::_

Robinpaw- dark brown she-cat with brown eyes.

Wetpaw- light brown tom with blue eyes and darker colored paws.

Rainpaw- Black and white she-cat with blue eyes.

_Queens::_

Petalwind- light brown she-cat with darker brown underbelly and toes and green eyes.

_Elders::_

Nettlefur- Calico she-cat with a raspy voice, ripped ears, and green eyes.

**Shadowclan**

_Leader::_

Drizzlestar- Gray she-cat with blue eyes, white age flecks covering her pelt.

_Deputy::_

Crimsontooth- Red tom with brown eyes, mouth is crooked, one tooth hangs out of mouth.

_Medicine Cat::_

Brooklight- Lithe white she-cat with blue eyes, very small, has black paws.

_Medicine Cat Apprentice::_

Buckpaw- Brown striped tom with green eyes

_Warriors::_

Nightshine- Black she-cat with amber eyes.

Cedarleaf- Grey tom with leaf green eyes, white paws and tail tip.

Crowwing- Black tom with white muzzle, white chest, white paws, and blue eyes.

Fernshade- Gray she-cat with green eyes, white underbelly.

Greenroot- Gray tabby tom with white socks, green eyes.

Amberblaze- Brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes.

_Apprentices::_

Darkpaw- Black tom with hazel eyes.

Whitepaw- White she-cat with hazel eyes light gray siamese points.

_Queens::_

Ashensky- Grey she-cat with blue eyes, white paws, ears, and tail, and dark grey flecks all over.

_Elders::_

Burningeyes- Black tom with amber eyes.

**Windclan**

_Leader::_

Bushstar- Large fluffy brown tom with dark brown tail, hazel eyes, and claws that are permanently irretractable.

_Deputy::_

Brokenwing- Black she-cat with white paws and ears, she has a useless foot and tail. Green eyes.

_Medicine Cat::_

Lichenstone- long-furred gray tom with green eyes, crabby, messy fur, irritable nature.

_Medicine Cat Apprentice::_

Grassfire- Orange she-cat with green eyes, darker orange rings around tail.

_Warriors::_

Cinderfoot- Dark gray tom with gray eyes, white paws.

Olivebranch- Lithe brown she-cat with white muzzle and paws, olive green eyes.

_Apprentice: Kestralpaw_

Owlflight- Dark brown tom with green eyes, white toes.

Dawnfrost- White she-cat with grey eyes.

Razorwind- Black tom with amber eyes.

Runningheart- brindle she-cat with blue eyes.

Wildstorm- White and brindle-tom with amber eyes.

_Apprentices::_

Kestralpaw- Light gray she-cat with brown eyes, white paws.

**OTHERS:**

Kite- Red colored tom with hazel eyes.

Lace- Cream and white she-cat with blue eyes.

_PROLOGUE_

The starclan cats moved towards the dimly lit clearing with unreadable expressions. The meeting's purpose wasn't one any cat could call joyous, but it was necessary, and each cat came with a feeling of uncertainty.

As cats filed in, often paired with a clanmate, a black and orange tortoiseshell she-cat was stepped forward. Her amber eyes fixed on each cat with an unsettling gaze, as if she wished none of them were there.

In truth, she did wish that.

The she-cat raised her tail in a silent call for quiet. Immediately, all voices ceased and eyes were on the dainty cat as she began to speak.

"I called for this meeting because the clans are about to enter a time much darker than they've ever faced before," Her ears twitched as she noticed the other cats passing looks between one another. Mutters ran throughout the crowd. The cat waited until the noise had quieted before continuing. "This...epidemic that is about to take root in Shadowclan may cause the destruction of every clan, we must think of a plan."

A wail rose up from the crowd, "How can we find a way to stop it if we hadn't seen it in the stars?" The question began a tidal wave of horrified yowls. The tortoiseshell she-cat hissed for attention, getting it quickly. She was not one to take chaos. She eyed the crowd for the cat that had spoken, but she couldn't identify them. Realizing she could only see the first few rows of cats, she jumped up unto a near boulder so that all cats could see her.

"I believe that we can still save our clans. And even if we can't," She paused. "We must try."

"And what makes you think we can fix anything, Foxspot?" Lightningflash, a Riverclan tom that was hit by a Monster long before Foxspot's time, spoke. His gray fur shimmered even in the darkness and his hazel eyes flicked from side to side expectantly. _Waiting for an attack? _Foxspot thought sarcastically. She casually studied a lifted paw, striving to keep her temper even when all she wanted to do was smack Lightningflash on the head and tell him to shut-up and sit down.

"What else should we do? Sit back and let the ranks of Starclan swell until there are more here than in the forest? If that's what _you'd_ like to do, Lightingflash, be my guest, but I won't take it. The clans have lived in the forest longer than any of us can remember. Who am I to watch it end?"

"But who are you to fix it?" Another yowl broke out amongst the crowd, followed by _mrows_ of agreement. Foxspot watched the argument with slight contempt, but she found a way to keep her tongue.

"She's a thunderclan warrior!" A small voice exclaimed to her side, and as she looked down she found an apprentice, Cricketpaw. She'd died of blackcough soon after being apprenticed. The black she-cat was hissing ferociously at the other cats, and surprisingly, they listened. Their hisses turned into murmurs of shame. Perhaps not all the clans liked it, but Thunderclan had been a mostly respectable clan. Foxspot still remembered stories of the Great Age of Thunderclan, how it'd been the strongest of the clans, and, more importantly, the most compassionate. "I remember her." Cricketpaw announced to the crowd, straightening herself to look taller.

"Though she died before I could fully understand much in the clans, there were always stories," Cricketpaw locked gazes with Foxspot, and the older she-cat stared in confusion at the awe and adoration that rested in the other's green gaze. "She saved the entire nursery during a fire, including myself, and then she saved others. Who are all of you to be acting so cruel to her? Listen to yourselves! I was raised to believe that Starclan would always be there for us! But here _we_ are, Starclan, questioning whether or not we should help our kin. What has become of us that we are so scared that we don't dare to save them? We are _wrong_. _Wrong_ to question this at all. I see only one option." Cricketpaw had gained the attention of the entire crowd, and silence followed her words. Foxspot felt a sudden burst of empathy run through her for the young she-cat, who could've been such a strong and loyal warrior if she'd lived long enough. She saw a flash of brown in the corner of her eye as a cat leapt up on another boulder, smaller than her own, but large enough to raise them above the others.

"I agree with Cricketpaw," Foxspot locked eyes with Raggedheart, another Thunderclan warrior. "It's not a question of _if_ we should help them, but a question of _how._" Yowls of agreement, though few and far between, echoed through the crowd. Foxspot's eyes shined with gratitude as she dipped her head to the tom, whose tail flicked in acknowledgement. He'd rarely spoken since he'd been taken into Starclan, only a few moons ago. He'd fallen from a rock wall when trying to escape a Windclan Attack. He'd been trying to save an apprentice who'd lost their grip. They'd survived. He hadn't.

"You're insane! Did anyone else notice that this is all Thunderclan? Perhaps they wish to ensure their survival over ours?" Foxspot saw Featherbranch, a fluffy gray tom snarl in the direction of Cricketpaw. Cricketpaw bared her teeth in response. Foxspot found herself liking the small apprentice more and more as the minutes passed.

"Quiet yourself and listen to what you're saying!" Another cat stood, coming to the front of the group, on the other side of Foxspot. Her silver and gray striped fur shimmered as she spoke, her ears flattened to her head and her blue eyes settled on the crowd.

"I am Silverstripe," Her eyes locked with Featherbranch's, "Of Shadowclan. I agree with these warriors. As all of you know, Shadowclan and Thunderclan haven't always gotten along, but it shouldn't matter which clan we are from. This is not a clan problem...it's a _clans' _problem, and I believe that each of you know it. Stop being cowards and come forward, for what do we have to lose? At _worst?_ The cats who don't survive will join us, and we will deal with our guilt. But at best...at best we can save them by the dozens...we can rescue many and lose the lives of few. What are you afraid of? The only thing I can see any of us fearing is failure. That is the only fear I will accept. We are Starclan! We guide our kin through the darkest of times and the most hopeless of nights! What are we if we can't even do this? Nothing but a bunch of starry old dead cats who have lost their sense of loyalty. I am unaware of what you all feel, but I know this: I will not stand by and watch." Silverstripe's eyes fell against Foxspot's and she let a purr into her voice.

"I will stand beside you." She mewed confidently. Foxspot nodded, touched by the older she-cat's words. Featherbunch snarled lowly at the group of she-cats standing in front of him, but said nothing else. A murmur of agreement began to run through the starry cats, and Foxspot knew that Featherbunch rarely strayed from the majority's ruling.

"I will stand with you, and so will she!" A tom mewed, his words perfect although she could see that his tongue was sticking loosely out of his mouth. He was leading a she-cat forward with him. Foxspot could see her milky eyes. She had once been blind, but not anymore. Foxspot recognized the two cats. The tom was Crookedtongue, while the she-cat was Ivoryheart. Both were of Windclan and they were young. Foxspot briefly wondered how they had lost their lives at such a young age. She felt a pang of jealousy. _They are still together..._She thought, but shoved it away. Now was not a time to complain about the lack of fairness in life. Soon, many cats were yowling their agreement. They would stand beside her to face the clans. Foxspot found herself purring in happiness.

The clans would not be alone.

For what could only be the millionth time, Starclan would guide them.

And with the stars on their side...they would not fail.

...

Cricketpaw floated through her living clanmates like the wind. Occasionally she would brush past them, just to see if she could feel their soft fur brushing against the stars in her pelt. Some of them would pause, or twitch, and look around as if they'd felt her. It brought hope into her heart and put a bounce in her step. However, she knew she had to remain focused. The heroes were supposed to be in Thunderclan, which, although initially argued about among the cats of the stars, was finally agreed with, and off was sent Cricketpaw. The black she-cat stepped lightly across the ground, her eyes trying to search for a hero, yet knowing not at all what a hero would look like.

"_You'll just know..._" Silverstripe had told her. Cricketpaw had nodded, but truthfully, she was still unsure. How could she know? She'd never known when she was living. _Perhaps it's a talent of Starclan to know a good cat when they see one_...The thought pleased her, and she traveled forward with a hint of happiness in her hazel gaze.

She had just brushed against another cat when she suddenly realized something.

Cricketpaw had felt their fur.

The realization made her freeze in her tracks. She spun around, searching for the cat she'd felt, but she'd lost them in the throng of cats that had begun to gather at the entrance. She hadn't noticed it before, too deep in her own thoughts. Cricketpaw slipped her way through the cats, searching for the soft and warm feeling of the fur of a clanmate. She was unsuccesful, and found herself huffing in defeat. As she moved ever closer to the front of the group she could smell the intense stench of blood.

For just a moment, she abandoned her mission and let curiosity get the best of her.

Once Cricketpaw reached the front of the crowd she felt sickness fill even her dead body, and bile rise in her throat. As she continued to look, her stomach did a flip in understanding.

It had begun.

The Starclan cats called it the Mad...because it drove a cat insane. They suddenly saw things, heard things, and began to do things abnormally. The Starclan cats had seen visions of their clanmates listening to non-living creatures, seeing friends as enemies, and losing touch with reality.

There were three cats in front of her. The Thunderclan leader: Violetstar, the medicine cat, and the injured cat.

Violetstar was watching with narrowed eyes, her expression unreadable.

The medicine cat, Russetspots, was looking at the scene with absolute horror. Cricketpaw imagined it was because what she saw was almost impossible to understand. Whiskertail, a warrior that Cricketpaw was supposed to train with, was lying on the ground, wailing in his own blood.

His claws dug deep into his right eye socket, as if he was wrapping it around his eye.

Cricketpaw looked away, studying the cats around her. She recognized Shimmerday, a beautiful golden she-cat that Cricketpaw had envied, and had been good friends with when she was alive. Shimmerday was busy explaining what had happened to Violetstar and Russetspots, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the rest of the clan was listening in.

"Well he was...talking to Quilfeather and I, but he was being loud, so we sent him away. He went off to hunt on his own and...when we heard the wailing..." Shimmerday's pause was interrupted by her friend Quilfeather, who stood a few paces behind the golden cat.

"We immediately ran to find him, but when we got there he was already lashing at his eye like a lunatic. We didn't know what to do. Shimmerday tried to get closer to him, but she couldn't, he kept lashing out at her with his other paw, causing himself to fall. He hit the ground for about the fourth time before we both went in and well...dragged him back to camp. He wailed the entire time...muttering something about the-"

"The Eye!" Suddenly Whiskertail spoke, the clan gasped, leaping back in fear. Violetstar didn't move at all, only narrowed her eyes further.

"What about it?" A different voice, one that Cricketpaw could recall instantly and would never forget, spoke. Her eyes traveled to Hailstripe, who, the last time she'd seen him alive was still Hailkit, even though he was her age. She felt a purr of pride rise in her throat as she looked at him. She remembered the weak kit that could barely stand. He'd been determined to be a warrior, and now, although he couldn't fight, he was still an amazing and agile hunter. The two of them had been very close, and even moons after she'd died she still missed him.

"Hailstripe!" Ashwing, Hailstripe's brother, tried to pull him back, but Mouseheart put a tail in front of him to stop him. The two spoke in glances, but the older she-cat won. Hailstripe stepped closer to Whiskertail, dancing dangerously a tail length away.

"The Eye...was lonely..."

"Where was it? Where'd you see it?"

"In the dead cat. The cat was mutilated...ripped apart...the eye was already out. It...It rolled towards me. It called me...It..It..." Suddenly Whiskertail let out an ear-piercing wail, his claws digging deeper into his eye before he suddenly ripped them out. His eye rolled out of his paw and unto the ground, slowly moving towards the crowd. The cats around Cricketpaw screamed, hissing as they attempted to escape. Cricketpaw was barely touched, but as the other cats backed away she felt fur brush against her pelt and jumped. Her eyes rose to the black fur of Ashwing. _Oh no! He's the hero?_ She fought her annoyance as she watched him step slowly towards the eye and stop it from rolling with a gentle paw. Russetspots stared at him in horror as he touched it. Hailstripe gave it a look, but like Violetstar, his eyes stayed emotionless. Cricketpaw was about to step closer, but she felt fur rub against her other side as well. Startled she jumped again, backing slightly into Ashwing, who took a sudden step to the side and looked pointedly at Shimmerday. Shimmerday who'd appeared confidently besides Cricketpaw didn't seem to notice.

Cricketpaw purred, knowing no cat would hear her.

Or at least...she'd thought no cat would hear her. Shimmerday faltered a bit, blinking but not looking in Cricketpaw's direction. Foxspot's words came back to the small black she-cat. _One of them will have a very close relationship with Starclan. _She stifled another purr at Shimmerday and instead forced herself to look toward Whiskertail and the others. Russetspots was obviously uninterested in touching Whiskertail, but Hailstripe had no such worry. He padded towards the tom, who was no longer moving besides the occasional shiver, and rested a tail on his flank.

"What do we do with him?" Hailstripe asked softly, his ears angling towards Violetstar. The clan leader let out a sigh.

"We cannot leave him in the camp, he unsettles too many of the clan."

"We can leave him alone!" Shimmerday snapped, surprising each of the cats. She cleared her throat awkwardly before continuing. "I'll watch him. I can find a nice place in the forest that he can use for a den. Someone can come and take my place later."

Violetstar shook her head, "Too dangerous for yo- one cat to do alone..." Violetstar ignored the annoyed look on Shimmerday's face at her mother's obvious attempt to protect her.

"I'll go with her. Two cats will do better than one, and as you said...it's much too dangerous to do alone." Ashwing voluntered, coming to stand beside Hailstripe, who gave his brother an amused glance that seemed to hold another secret meaning, which the black tom ignored.

Violetstar studied the two cats with slight worry in her eyes. "You're right, that would be a better idea...but..."

Hailstripe let out an interupting purr, "but three would be even better, and Violetstar, I'm glad to volunteer." He watched his clan leader with unwavering blue eyes. Both Ashwing and Shimmerday stared at him in horror. Cricketpaw nearly laughed. Upon watching her clan, she'd seen her friends grow up together, and she fully understood Shimmerday's and Ashwing's uneasiness. Although, it did amuse her.

Finally, after a series of mixed emotions flitted through Violetstar's eyes, she responded with a short and sharp nod. A smug look appeared in Hailtstripe's eyes, but he hid it with a respectful nod and a flick of his tail. Shimmerday stifled a huff of annoyance, and Ashwing rolled his eyes, his claws digging into the dirt. Cricketpaw purred again, not even caring if Shimmerday heard her.

Ashwing stepped forward, shouldering Hailstripe gently backwards before grabbing Whiskertail by the scruff of his neck. Shimmerday followed after him, her tail raised in the air as she passed Hailstripe without a glance. Cricketpaw assumed it was Shimmerday's attmept at indifference towards the tom, however, this only seemed to amuse him more. Gently, the golden striped she-cat grasped the scruff of the tom's neck beside Ashwing and helped to pull the tom up. Ashwing gave her a questioning look, as if saying: "I can handle this, why are you helping me?" Shimmerday gave no sign of acknowledgement, instead, only pulling the tom upwards at the same time as Ashwing so that Whiskertail hung between them.

Hailstripe let out a purr of amusement, "What a good team the two of you make!" He winked as Shimmerday snarled against the fur between her jaws and Ashwing's tail lashed angrily. The four were about to make it out of the camp when Violetstar's voice stopped them. Cricketpaw moved until she was beside Hailstripe. She pressed against him, and was surprised to find that she could feel his fur.

_He's a hero?_ Cricketpaw nearly burst with excitement, in fact, she was so distracted, she almost didn't hear the words that Violetstar hissed.

"No trouble, understand?" The tone caused Cricketpaw to look at her with narrowed eyes. It was obvious to all of them who she was talking to, but the golden striped tom didn't seem to care. Instead, a smirk graced his eyes and his ears twitched.

"Of course not." Hailstripe said, mocking hurt. "I'd never cause anybody any trouble...well...at least not in this situation." The tom gave a wave of his tail before padding forward until he could walk beside Ashwing. Cricketpaw started towards them, but stopped. She'd found the heroes...she'd have to watch them from afar. Although a pang hit her heart, she watched the four walk away, the sound of their paws becoming more and more distant. As she turned away from the entrance, Cricketpaw's eyes landed on the blue gaze of Violetstar. There was an emotion Cricketpaw had never seen before in their depths, and she found the fur on the back of her neck begin to stand up.

In fact, the more she studied it, the more she realized that she'd seen that look somewhere before.

Somewhere in the past.

She tried to think, but nothing came to mind.

As Violetstar turned around, Cricketpaw shrugged. It wasn't important enough for her to worry about, yet still, she felt the memory of the chilling glare still in her mind. Taking a few more steps, she shoved the thoughts away, preparing herself to journey back to the stars. She had to focus on the task at paw. There wasn't any time to worry about her old clan leader.

There were many, many cats to save, and Cricketpaw was to be apart of it. Cricketpaw bounced on her toes, allowing one more moment of freedom before forcing her eyes up to the sky. She let out a sigh and her starry tail fell against the ground, dragging across the dust. With one last step she found herself stepping up towards the sky. She thought of being a hero, saving cats, doing the right thing.

And even though she'd always dreamed of it, everything felt different when she was dead.

Cricketpaw couldn't help it, but ever since she'd been welcomed to the stars she'd always felt separated, as if there was fog between her and the real world. In Starclan, the feeling of separation was even worse. Cricketpaw reached Starclan and placed her paws gently on the ground. Her eyes searched the plentiful hunting grounds and she couldn't rid herself of the humorless thought.

_Welcome home._

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated! **


	2. The Beginning

**CHAPTER ONE**

_The Eye_

**SHIMMERDAY**

The Mad Cave

It was getting tiresome, even for her, and Shimmerday could hear Hailstripe's shortness of breath, but stopping wasn't an option for anyone.

Whiskertail had woken up moments ago.

He hadn't stopped wailing since.

It had only taken those few seconds for Shimmerday to become agitated. The golden she-cat was known for her temper, and a wailing, bloodied up tom-cat who could be crazy wasn't helping.

Not to mention the fact that she was going with Ashwing and Hailstripe.

Particularly the latter one.

She had to admit, Ashwing was a good cat to bring along if you wanted protection, despite the fact that she hated him. But Hailstripe? He was useless. All he did was make jokes to annoy her and bother her with his knowing glances and his easy going nature.

"Take it easy, Shimmerday," Hailstripe mewed over the wailing as he padded on the other side of Ashwing. Shimmerday gave the tom a glare. Hailstripe's tail motioned to her jaws wrapped around Whiskertail's neck fur. "You're making him bleed more." He explained. Shimmerday let out a squeal, nearly dropping Whiskertail. Luckily she managed to regain her grip. Hailstripe snickered, but didn't say anymore. She let out a snort. _That's why I can stand him, he's always laughing at things that aren't funny! _

She closed her eyes for just a second to clear her mind. She needed to focus on getting Whiskertail to the den she planned for them all to stay at for a while.

"You know, we're going with you to this den, but we don't even know where it is." Hailstripe mewed, padding a little farther ahead of them, he looked back at her with amusement in his eyes, to which Shimmerday snarled at.

That, however, did nothing to shut him up.

"It could be a fox's den, or a badger's den,"

Shimmerday hissed through the tom's fur.

"You're right, you'd know, you're a good smeller." Hailstripe purred, and Shimmerday was slightly surprised at his compliment. Ashwing glanced at her worriedly, and she almost let out a _mrow_ of amusement. Ashwing was probably worried that she'd begin to fall for Hailstripe's charm. _As if_, she thought, _that tom would have to have Starclan on his side to get me to fall for that. _

Her eyes flicked towards him as he chatted aimlessly on about something or another. She briefly heard the words 'squirrel versus rabbit' mentioned, but by then he was on to some other topic about monsters, and two-legs, and fish faced Riverclan cats.

She'd always known Hailstripe to be a dreamer, he rarely used any sense. As kits, he'd make up the best games, and although he could never play them he'd gladly make one up for you.

For the best price that is.

Perhaps next time you got prey, he'd get half. Or maybe you'd take the blame for something he did. Whatever the price was, you always paid it, or else you'd be in _real_ trouble with him. Shimmerday hated to admit it, but Hailstripe could be a formidable opponent when it came to games of the mind.

Shimmerday cast a glance around the forest, taking in the bright light shimmering through the green leaves on the trees and the soft, moss-covered ground underfoot. _The forest is beautiful in New-Leaf..._She was still thinking about her home when she noticed the cave-like rock that she'd remembered from a kit age. The memory made a part of her heart begin to beat louder, but she forced herself to calm down. She pulled gently towards the boulder, which on the other side held an opening large enough to hold the four of them and maybe one or two more. Ashwing followed her without pause, but his brother stopped, staring at their destination with a look of annoyance, which was quickly turning to anger.

Shimmerday gave him a look, as if challenging him to argue. He didn't. Only continued forward, although his paws and tail dragged across the dirt underpaw. Shimmerday wanted to smirk, but a part of her kept her from it. She tried to shove the emotions that fought to rise in her at the many memories she had of the cave, but as she got closer it got harder and harder. When Ashwing and her had pulled the wailing tom into the cave she let the memory wash over here.

_FLASHBACK:_

_Shimmerkit bounced through the forest, leaping over branches and twigs, her eyes wide as she took in the forest around her. "It's beautiful out here! I can't believe this is _our_ forests!" She paused a moment to let her friend catch up with her, and when he did, she noticed his head was lowered and his ears were flattened. His tail drooped and he was panting, but he looked as if breathing caused him pain. Shimmerkit pressed up against him, hoping to give him some strength from her pelt. "How about we find a place to rest?" _

_Fearful of hurting his pride, she added, "I'm gettin' kind of sleepy." He gave her a grateful look as she searched the area around them for a place to rest._

_A few tail lengths away she spotted a large rock with a huge opening that could surely fit herself and the other kit. _

_Moving slowly, she led him towards it. _

"_Let's sit here, eh?" She said, waiting for him to plop down unto the smooth rock before she did. She pressed her fur to keep him warm. "Feel any better?" He nodded enthusiastically and she let out a _mrow_ of amusement. She pressed her shoulder against his, a purr rising in her throat._

"_This is fun." Her friend purred, a glow in his eyes, but they soon darkened. "It's nice to...get away from all the others..." A tinge of sadness appeared in his voice and Shimmerkit found annoyance sparking the fur on her pelt._

"_It's not right for Flamekit and Whiskerkit to treat you that way." She snapped, her tail lashing angrily. The little tom shrugged, his eyes on his shuffling paws. _

"_What other way should they treat me? I'll never be a great warrior, not like the rest of you." The tom's voice grew sadder, his ears flattened and his shoulders slouched in defeat. Shimmerkit snorted indignantly. She wouldn't take this from him! He was meant to be her deputy one day! He always was in every game they played...that is until Ashwing appeared and took over..._

"_Don't speak like that! A true warrior isn't afraid of taking chances! Besides! A _real _warrior looks at failure in the eyes and say: "Give me your best shot!"" In the middle of her pep talk Shimmerkit had jumped to her paws. She pranced around him, giving her words emphasis, wanting him to get them in his head. Defeat was not acceptable. She'd once heard that from her mother, Violetstar and the she-kit believed it. She would never admit defeat._

I'll always be the last one standing_, She promised herself._

"_I want you to say it." She told her friend, and he glanced up at her in surprise. He'd listened to her words in sullen silence, but Shimmerkit still refused to let him pity himself. He wouldn't be a warrior unless he believed it, and Shimmerkit would make sure that he did. The golden striped kit scuffled his paws across the ground absentmindedly. _

_His words came out as a soft whisper, "Give me your best shot..." Shimmerkit saw this utterance as unacceptable and immediately jumped in front of him to challenge it._

_She yelled loudly in his face, "I didn't hear you!" Startled, the tom scrambled back, but as she looked at him with an unwavering sapphire gaze, he began to speak. _

"_Give me your best shot." He said, a little louder than before. Shimmerkit let her belief shine in her eyes as she took a step forward to say it with him._

"_Give me your best shot!" She meowed loudly into the cave, her voice echoing around the stone structure. The golden tom laughed, standing up to join her yowls._

"_Give me your best shot! Come on, bring it!" He bounced on his toes and Shimmerkit purred out a laugh. _

"_Yeah that's it! You have to believe it!" She gave him a spur of the moment lick on the ear. He blinked at her, surprise reflecting in both of their eyes. _

_Shimmerkit blinked, looking away a moment, her ears hot with embarrassment. She was about to apologize, but was interrupted by a loud purr from her friend. He placed a paw of hers and she could hear the amusement in her voice, "You know what, Shimmerkit?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_If you believe in me, then I'm certainly going to be a great warrior one day!" _

_Shimmerkit let out an awkward stutter, "You think way too highly of me...I'm just doing what bestfriends do. Believing in each other." _

_There was a pause, and Shimmerkit refused to look at him, afraid of what she might see in his ice-blue depths. He was the one to break the silence._

"_How about this Shimmerkit, I'll make you a promise." _

"_Uh...okay."_

"_I will always believe in you. No matter what! We'll always be friends! I've got your back and you've got mine. We'll be...be...the best of friends! Promise?" The genuinity in his voice made Shimmerkit finally bring her gaze to his. He purred out her, obviously happy that she'd gotten over her momentary shyness. Shimmerkit nodded, bringing the warmth back into her eyes._

"_I promise too. I'll always believe in you, and I'll never let you down." _

"_Shimmerkit?" _

"_Yes?" _

"_I wanna be the best warrior ever." _

"_Hailkit, you can be whatever you want to be."_

"_Do you really believe that?" _

"_Trust me," She purred in laughter, "If there's any cat more stubborn than you are when want something, I'd be having a lot more trouble getting the vole from the fresh-kill pile." _

"Hello? Shimmerday? You back from the moon?" Hailstripe's blue eyes were close to Shimmerday's face, and she sputtered, jumping back and nearly ramming her body into the side of the den. She spotted Whiskertail lying at the deepest part of the den, his stomach slowly rising and falling steadily. She could smell Ashwing outside of the den. He was guarding them.

"Why aren't you out there with your brother?" Shimmerday snapped, her eyes narrowing in annoyance as she straightened her fur and gave herself a few embarrassed licks. Hailstripe shrugged, his blue eyes gazing momentarily out the entrance.

"He doesn't need me. He never has." His strange tone of voice caught Shimmerday's attention and she looked up at him mid-lick. He wasn't watching her, or Ashwing anymore. Instead his blue gaze was on the sleeping Whiskertail.

"When did he start sleeping?" Shimmerday asked cautiously, coming to stand beside the striped tom. Hailstripe casually rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. Against her will, Shimmerday noticed the way his fur rippled over strong muscles. _He's so different from that tiny kit that could barely jump three pawsteps in front of him..._

Hailstripe's eyes moved down to her and he caught her staring. She coughed suddenly, looking away and fighting for nonchalance. Hailstripe let out an amused snort, but said nothing about, instead giving a sharp nod in the direction of the sleeping white tom.

"He fell asleep as soon as we dragged him over there. It was weird. His annoying wailing stopped like it'd been cut off mid-cry. I thought he'd died, but...no such luck."

Shimmerday gave him a warning glare for his crude words, but he only gave her a smug look.

"You don't have any right to call _anyone _annoying." She mewed as she took confident steps towards the opposite side of the cave, purposefully trying to escape him. She hoped he wouldn't notice, but she could tell by the looks he was giving her that he had.

"Still playing that "I'm much too cool to talk to you game" huh, Shimmerday?"

"It's not a game. And I'm not playing. I just...don't want to talk to you."

"Then just ignore me, you won't be the first."

Shimmerday snorted, but found herself stuck on his words, "It's not that easy."

"Oh really? Is it my muscles? I can tell they're keeping you distracted..." He gave a low purr and Shimmerday hissed in annoyance.

"Shut-up will you? I wasn't look at your muscles! There was a leaf!"

"Mhmm, of course there was, that's not proper, staring at _me_ like that." He responded mockingly.

Shimmerday sneered, "Not like they were that big in the first place! Especially not compared to Ashwing's..." She trailed off, unsure whether or not to be proud of her low blow. Silence greeted her words, but she wasn't happy about the words she'd said. She'd thought she'd quieted him for good, but a moment later and he'd continued. Shimmerday let out a sigh.

"Course they aren't, Ashwing must've found a herb for that!"

"You're...you're something else, you know that?"

Hailstripe let out a purr, "What kind of something else?"

"It's a phrase, does it matter what kind?"

"Sure! I could be a funny kind, or a handsome kind, or a..._charming_ kind." Hailstripe droned, listing his imaginary 'kinds' with a tilt of his head to one side, back and forth. Shimmerday growled and rolled her eyes, standing up and turning around she she could lie facing the wall.

"Shut-up Hailstripe! I don't have time for your words!"

"You want a nap? You want to sleep with a crazy tom lying over there? Who could go all Tigerstar on you at any moment?"

"'Go all Tigerstar on me'?"

"It's phrase, Shimmerday, get with the times!"

Shimmerday's tone was bored, "Whatever."

"Look, I'm just saying that taking a nap with a crazy cat who ripped his own eyes out isn't necessarily the best sort of idea." Hailstripe reasoned, but Shimmerday ignored him with a huff.

However, soon she heard another voice call out into the cave. "You think I'm crazy?"

Instantly, Shimmerday was on her paws and facing the back of the cave, her eyes came to rest on the eye and bloody socket of Whiskertail.

"I can assure you..." He mewed enthusiastically, nodding adamantly. "I'm not crazy...I'll prove it to you...I...I can show you...so you can see the eye too..." Shimmerday could see the crazy look in his eyes and she felt her stomach churn. She tossed a look at Hailstripe.

"We can handle this..." He said, although it sounded more like a question.

Shimmerday turned towards the entrance to the small cave, her voice echoing against it's walls, "Ashwing! We're gonna need your help!"

Hailstripe nodded in defeat, "Yeah! And make sure you watch your eyes! I think this cat is a collector..."

...

.Shimmerday backed into the corner of the cave, searching wildly for an escape route of some kind and finding none.

In all of the moons she'd known him, she'd never seen Whisketail fight like she was seeing him now. Whiskertail was studying her with the strangest sort of look in her eyes, as if she was the prey and he was hunting her. She felt her back legs press up against the cave and she knew she couldn't move away any more. He was blocking all her angles. Escaping to his side would give him an open shot at her flanks and stomach, and that would be too dangerous of a move. Same for jumping over him, her stomach would be in perfect range. No, the only thing she could do was hope that Ashwing would be able to help her. Although, at the moment, he was lying ominously still next to the farthest wall away from her..

Which left... Hailstripe. She nearly let out an audible groan, but contained herself for the moment's sake. Now was not a time to be picky about who was to come to her rescue.

Again she tried to think of a plan of escape, but nothing came. Whiskertail moved closer and closer until his nose was nearly pressed to hers.

_I could hurt him, that would buy me some time..._

But no, she couldn't hurt a clanmate...even if he was crazy...

"You have pretty eyes..." Whiskertail whispered, and his breath against her nose made her shiver in a way she didn't like. This close, she could see his bloodied eyes and seeing the details of it was grisly. The fur on her neck stood up and her ears flattened against her head. She let out a warning hiss, pointing her face away from his in an attempt to shield herself from the horrid sight before her.

Whiskertail shook his head and a dissappointed look appeared in his hazel eye. "No, no...no need for that...we're all friends here...right?"

"Sure..." Shimmerday murmured, still looking for an escape, but finding nothing. She let out a loud sigh of annoynance.

"Is something wrong?" Whiskertail asked, his voice sounding strange and peculiar to Shimmerday's ears, as if it wasn't his voice but another voice all together.

_Oh great, now _you're _imagining things..._

"I just...would like to get passed you..." Shimmerday meowed, attempting to slide to the left, but Whiskertail didn't budge. He had muscles from being raised as a warrior, and Shimmerday new for a fact that he was a strong opponent. She couldn't defeat him without injuring him as well as herself, this she knew for a fact.

"Why? Do you not like my company?" Whiskertail questioned, his voice growing cold as his eyes narrowed in accusation. Shimmerday's eyes widened, panic making her heart speed up and her fur to fluff up even more.

"No! No that's not what I meant! I-"

"She just needs some space," Hailstripe's voice came from behind Whiskertail, and although the white tom did nothing his ears swiveled in Hailstripe's direction. Shimmerday could see the tabby tom past Whiskertail's ear, and by the looks of it he had a wrenched shoulder and a line of blood was tainting his fur as it slid down his cheek. She assumed it was from Whiskertail when he shoved Hailstripe roughly against the wall. "Besides, if you take a step back, you can further appreciate her beauty..." Hailstripe made a face, as if he could barely believe the words coming out of his mouth.

Whiskertail nodded thoughtfully, then after a moment he took a few pawsteps back, giving Shimmerday room to breath. She let out a breathe she wasn't aware she was holding and closed her eyes peacefully for just a second. She gave Hailstripe a grateful look and he shrugged.

_He's improvising_, she thought as she watched him limp slowly closer. _With that injured leg he won't be able to fight..._

Shimmerday saw a flash of movement on the other side of Whiskertail's head. She spotted Ashwing slowly getting to his paws and turning around to face her and the white tom. He looked at Hailstripe, and she watched as the two brothers had a conversation in simple gazes. She was amazed at how close they were, able to talk in glances. She'd never been that close to her brother, Flamespin...the tom had always loved himself more than his kin. Momentarily distracted by thoughts of her self-centered brother, she didn't notice Whiskertail's paw raising slowly towards her eye.

She was alerted by Hailstripe, "Oh no! Wait Whiskertail!" The golden tom jumped forward in panic and then winced, picking his injured up off the ground with an agonized look in his eyes. Shimmerday almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

Ashwing took a cautious step towards Whiskertail as Hailstripe began to talk again, "Do you really want Shimmerday's eye? I mean...sure it's pretty but...it won't match your...others..." He stalled, obviously making it up as he went along. But Whiskertail couldn't see him, and could only hear the confidence of Hailstripe's words.

_He's a good actor, _Shimmerday thought, then shoved the praise away and scowled inwardly.

"True but...I like it...so much..." Whiskertail whispered, and Shimmerday squirmed as he raised a paw to her eye and tried to reach for it. She resisted to let out a squeal, as his claws were still sheathed.

"But think about your collection! It needs to match, otherwise it won't look as nice, don't you think? The...uhh...other eye is red, and your eye is hazel. You need a brown eye...or another hazel eye...or even amber. Not blue. Blue doesn't match. It would ruin everything."

"You're right...blue doesn't match," Whiskertail gave me a scathing glare. "You ruin everything." I blinked, biting by a rude retort. _So sorry blue doesn't match your bloody collecton of ripped out eyeballs! _

"She really does, doesn't she." Hailstripe said, and she gave him a glare at the truth in the voice. There was a smug look in his eyes, but by this time, Ashwing was almost right behind Whiskertail, so she let his smugness slide and decided she'd get him for it next time.

Ashwing crouched, catching Shimmerday's gaze. She gave an almost impercievable nod while Hailstripe continued to whine about all of Shimmerday's flaws.

"She like, flirts without meaning too. Her mother's the clan leader. She uses that to her advantage..." Shimmerday rolled her eyes and forced his words out of her head, she needed to focus on when to jump out of the way so that Ashwing could attack Whiskertail. Shimmerday watched as Ashwing's muscles gave one final twitch of tension.

_1...2...3..._

She leapt, her strong legs taking her right over Whiskertail, but she stumbled, falling, and her momentum caused her to roll until she rammed into Hailstripe, sending them both sprawling across the floor.

She could hear Whiskertail struggling, but when she looked over she could see that Ashwing had it handled. He was sitting firmly on Whiskertail's head, and with Ashwing's greater weight, the smaller tom had no chance of escaping. Shimmerday let out an exhausted sigh, relieved that the moment was over.

Suddenly Hailstripe exclaimed from beside her, "Oh! And she likes to knock you down. Like a lot. Both literally, and non-literally!"

"Shut-up!"

"And she yells shut-up. Alot."

Shimmerday let out a hiss, but Hailstripe only purred.

_It'll be a long day..._

7


	3. Insanity and The Chase

**A/N: I've actually decided to give each of my chapters a sort of base, each chapter will hold a flashback, and a present chapter, because I realized there is a LOT of background and past in this story that'll help you understand more of what's going on, so, prepare for a flashback in each chapter I write. That also might make the chapter's longer so...that's a plus! Anyway! I hope you guys review and thanks for reading! Also, if you got anymore cat names or descriptions that'd be helpful to to add on to the clans later. **

**WARNING: It get's a little gruesome around here so...just warning you.**

**CHAPTER TWO**

_Flashback: Insanity_

Whiskertail brought his paw steps closer to the golden tabby warrior who watched him with only annoyance in her narrowed eyes.

"I don't understand why you're so..._hostile_."

"Hostile? I am _not _hostile."

"Sure." The white tom murmured, giving a shrug of his shoulders and a roll of his yellow eyes. He circled the she-cat, eyeing her up and down.

Near by, he could hear Flamespin chuckling to an unresponsive Darkstorm and Hailstripe, both of which glared at him with dark stares.

Whiskertail ignored that, those three's drama only brought him down, and he preferred to float above problems.

Needless to say, he wasn't all that into fighting.

"Let's go hunting. Just you...me...and small prey dying at our claws..."

The she-cat snorted, "_How romantic._" Whiskertail gave her a smug look and stopped so that he was directly in front of her. He'd slowly wound around until his nose nearly touched hers. She growled.

"What do you say Shimmerday?" The tom purred. Shimmerday used a paw to bat him away.

"I say leave me alone and go do something useful for the clan."

"Ah, but this is _very_ useful."

"I don't see how flirting with me in front of everyone is useful."

"It's...shall we say...a _precursor._"

"What're you talking about?"

Whiskertail's eyes gleamed with mischief, gaining him a suspicious look from Shimmerday, "I flirt with you, you flirt back. We fall in love, we have kits. Kits become warriors and BAM. The clan has been helped."

Shimmerday's jaw dropped slightly, her ears flattening in embarrassment as she began to crouch down as if she wanted to disappear. She stared at him with wide eyes.

"You have...so many issues...I don't...I..."

"Go hunting with me or I'll make it worse."

"I don't see how it could _be_ any worse."

"_Watch me_. I'm the master at this."

Shimmerday's eyes flicked from the tom, to the cats watching them, and then to camp entrance. After a long moment of contemplation, which Whiskertail filled with the occasional ear, tail, or nose twitch, she nodded. She began to slink hurriedly towards the camp entrance, leaving the tom behind. He followed at a much slower pace; giving smug looks to every jealous tomcat he passed.

As soon as Shimmerday reached the camp entrance she bolted into the forests, and Whiskertail was forced to run after her.

When he got deeper into the forest he realized he'd lost her trail He rolled his eyes. _Oh Shimmerday, if you wanna play hard to get, I'll play hard to lose._ The tom raised his nose to the air, searching for the smell of the forest she-cat. The breeze was coming straight towards him and it brought the smells of the forest with it.

Whiskertail identified many of the different smells without a thought, trees, leaves, prey, and the stale fox scent from when they'd chased a fox out of the territory two sunrises ago.

But there were two scents that caught his attention.

Shimmerday's...and the smell of death.

Whiskertail froze, nose still in the air, tail stick out in alert.

If it were dead, it wouldn't fight back, so he could check it out on his own. He dismissed the thought that Shimmerday had killed it; her smell was in the opposite direction.

_You've got to investigate_. Whiskertail began in the direction of the sickening smell. He suddenly noticed the strange silence of the forest around him, which was completely unusual as normally the forest was all but bursting with life.

Even the wind was silent. The trees didn't move and the grasses didn't sway.

Whiskertail's nose quivered through his whiskers. He didn't like it, and as he grew closer to the smell a small knot of nervousness became larger and larger in the base of his stomach.

The knot only grew worse as Whiskertail realized that the smell came from the ShadowClan border.

_What'd ShadowClan do? Drop carrion at our border? _

The white tom finally found himself standing at the ShadowClan border, the stench of death and disease overriding all his other senses. As he looked past the boulder that marked the borderline he could see a heap of what seemed like mutilated flesh. Whiskertail stared, utterly disgusted by the sight, yet unable to look away.

In fact, he found himself especially entranced with a small round object that seemed to glisten with the dead thing's blood.

Whiskertail thought it was eerily attractive, as if it was calling him.

Or perhaps...it _was_ calling him.

Whiskertail took a staggering step back, a wave of fear washing over him. _This is ridiculous...it's not alive, it can't...call to me. _

And yet, even as he thought the words he found himself not believing them.

_Come to me, _the thing seemed to say, _here._

Whiskertail's paw slid forward ever so slightly. It was as if his mind was begging him to listen, but his body refused to cross the border he'd been raised to avoid.

"What are you?" Whiskertail's voice was barely a whisper, and if the wind hadn't been so silent, the breeze would've taken it away.

_The Eye, _the thing hummed.

And yes, yes Whiskertail could see now, the eye did not talk, it _hummed_. It hummed with a vibrant intensity that hurt Whiskertail's ears and made him stumble back.

Louder, Whiskertail asked, "What did you do to this...poor...creature."

_My victim, _The Eye purred mischievously, _I've been waiting for the second. _

Whiskertail stared a moment at the blood-covered thing as the meaning behind the words revealed themselves to him.

"_Me?_" Whiskertail mewed, his voice shrill. The Eye seemed to nod, and Whiskertail realized that it had begun to roll closer, and now Whiskertail could see the whites of its eyes and the color of it's pupil

_Hazel. _

The calm he'd been trying to keep was gone now, and panic was rising. Whiskertail found himself fighting nausea and a headache blaring through his skull, flashing behind his hazel eyes.

_Eye. The Eye. _My _eye. _Whiskertail thought, as he began to understand.

"You...You want my eye?"

_I could want nothing more. _The eye hummed, causing Whiskertail to whine at the pain growing in his mind. The pain was so much that black spots began to cloud his vision and Whiskertail began to feel his paws go numb and his tail droop. His eyelids began to fall slowly. _Give me your eye...and perhaps I will let you keep your life..._

As Whiskertail's world began to fade he let out one ear-piercing scream as the Eye rolled towards him.

Then, the world went black.

_Normal Time: The Chase _

**Hailstripe**

The silence of the forest did nothing to keep Hailstripe from enjoying his stroll. Sure, Hailstripe and Ashwing were supposed to be hunting, but Ashwing wouldn't let Hailstripe help at all.

He'd only start to pick on Hailstripe's mistakes.

The tabby tom leapt easily over a fallen branch, landing daintily on the other side. He gave a roll of his shoulders and took a glance around him.

He was deep within ThunderClan territory, one of his favorite spots in fact.

It was nothing but a small clearing. Tall grasses surrounded it and they were mixed with tiny beautiful white flowers. As far as Hailstripe knew, the flowers only grew here in ThunderClan territory. At the edge of the tiny clearing there was a rock, a rock that held many of Hailstripe's good memories, most of time as a kit playing with friends.

The word sobered the tom.

_Friends…_He didn't have many, if any at all, now. Instead, Hailstripe spent most of his time either with his brother who only pitied him, or with Rowanfoot and Darkstorm, the two toms he knew well as his best friends.

Them, and the medicine cat he'd befriended as an apprentice.

Hailstripe bounced towards the rock and jumped to the top easily. He remembered a time where a jump like that would make it difficult to breath and he let out a satisfied purr. Everyday he grew stronger, and Hailstripe believed that one day he'd out grow his breathing problems. He'd heard of it being possible, and he surely hoped it was.

He didn't want to be that warrior that missed out on everything because he was constantly sick.

_Too late for that_, Hailstripe snorted at his own sarcastic thoughts and plopped down on the rock. He began to groom himself out of boredom, allowing his thoughts to wander and his eyes to glaze over in dreams of saving the day and being the hero.

He was entangled in a wonderful fairytale where he saved the she-cat in distress when he heard a thin wail coming from the ShadowClan border.

Hailstripe jumped to his paws, his ears straining forward to hear for the sound again. He tasted the air to smell.

_ShadowClan cats…on ThunderClan territory? _

Hailstripe thought about running back to the camp to warn Violetstar but he thought about it again. _It might not be anything more than one…_Letting out a sigh, the tom padded his way towards the border, making sure to keep his paw steps silent and his ears open.

He was nearly halfway there when he heard something.

There was a rustle in the leaves to his right and Hailstripe immediately turned to prepare for the attacker. He gave a low growl and crouched to pounce, but to his disappointment it wasn't a ShadowClan cat, but his black pelted brother.

"You scared me." Hailstripe mewed, standing up and ruffling his fur. "I was about to attack you." He added matter-of-factly, a smug look in his eyes.

Ashwing snorted, "I would've taken you down."

"For some reason, I really doubt that."

The pitiful wails had turned into pleading screams and now they echoed so loudly that both toms jumped at the noise.

"So you heard it too?" Ashwing asked as he began to pad faster towards the sound, Hailstripe at his heels.

"How could I not? I'm sure that even the Tribe of Endless Hunting heard that!"

"What do you think it is?" Ashwing led Hailstripe underneath a fallen branch.

The two sped up as another scream bellowed across the forest.

"Some cat's dying? Fighting? Calling us to our deaths?" Hailstripe meowed, nearly stumbling over himself as his paw stepped on a twig.

"Quiet! And I don't think that last one is an actual possibility."

"Did I ever ask what you think? No. _You_ asked _me._"

This time, the scream was close enough to be distinguished in words.

"Cedarleaf! Nightshine! Please! I've…had enough…I…I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! I won't do it again just- please stop!" The voice was desperate, horrified. Weak.

Ashwing gave Hailstripe a worried glance. The two broke through the brush and Hailstripe, having broken through later than Ashwing, didn't have time to dodge the flailing ball of white fur flying directly at him.

"Oh no! ThunderClan! _Please_ don't kill me."

"Kill you? What're you talking about?" Hailstripe mewed. He could feel tightness in his chest where she'd knocked the air out of him. _As if I wasn't already lacking that! _

Ashwing let out a low snarl besides the two cats. Hailstripe shoved the white cat off of him, watching her '_oof_' as she fell unto the ground.

In front of the three cats, the ShadowClan warriors Hailstripe had smelled earlier erupted from the brush, disrespecting the border without pause.

"You have our apprentice," One of them, a gray tom, snarled, teeth bared and tail lashing.

Hailstripe blinked, taking a paw and shoving her forward, "Have her back."

"No!" The little white she-cat screeched, sliding back and running to hide behind Hailstripe. "Please don't let them take me! They're going to kill me!"

"Kill you?" The other ShadowClan cat, a black she-cat, crawled forward, one brow raised. "Why would we kill you? We just want to make sure you understand the punishments of your action."

"I don't want to go to the river again!" The apprentice wailed, crouching even lower behind Hailstripe.

Ashwing and Hailstripe exchanged another glance, this one holding a question. _What do you think?_

Hailstripe gave a mental shrug; _I'm guessing this cat made a mistake. _

_Enough to be drowned?_

_...Probably not._

Ashwing took a step forward, moving his broad-shoulders in front of Hailstripe and the little apprentice.

"Give us Whitepaw," The gray tom ordered. Whitepaw shivered and let out a whimper.

Hailstripe backed up, leading her behind the trees. "How about this Whitepaw? You follow me to a safe place and _stay_ there while I run and get some help for my brother there, who despite what everyone thinks _cannot_ take on two older ShadowClan cats without getting injured." The lithe white cat nodded, her eyes wide in fear.

_What if she follows me and finds the camp? Violetstar will kill me_.

"I hope you realize this risk I'm taking." As soon as the two of them were out of sight of Whitepaw's clan mates Hailstripe spun around and broke into a run, followed quickly by the other cat, whose tiny paws seemed amazingly adept at wandering through the undergrowth and trees.

"I...do..." The she-cat mewed as she jumped clumsily over a fallen log.

_Where are you even taking her?_ Hailstripe thought as his paws decided where to go.

He ended up finding himself in a small clearing with a rock, surrounded by tall grasses and white flowers. Hailstripe let out a short, quiet hiss.

"Stay here," He ordered her, and she sat with a plop on the ground, panting. Hailstripe blinked, pausing a moment. He didn't seem, as out of breath as he thought he'd be. He nodded at her before running towards the camp. _She won't be able to follow..._He decided. _The camp takes...memorizing. _The tom smirked to himself as he slid past a bramble bush easily, knowing exactly where the weak point was. He erupted through and could see the camp entrance and smell the cats that rested inside.

He burst into the camp, skidding to a halt, his eyes searching for the red tabby she-cat that had hated him all his life. He spotted her beside the fresh-kill pile, picking out a piece of prey with her two younger daughters, Morningpaw and Sunpaw. He let out a low growl, hoping to catch her attention.

It worked; the tabby cat looked up from her kin and stared at him, a glare in her eyes.

_You've never looked at me like you like me..._Hailstripe thought absentmindedly, but shoved the thought away. It wasn't about her.

"There are two ShadowClan cats in our territory fighting over whether or not they can take an apprentice back and drown her." Hailstripe said matter-of-factly. Violetstar's ears twitched. "Ashwing is there, the two warriors are older than him."

"Where's the apprentice?"

"Taken care of. I know where she is, I'll get her and take her back to her territory..._away_ from her warriors." Hailstripe meowed in a tone that didn't allow argument. Violetstar's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing to the golden tom. "Robintail, Hollyblaze, Quilfeather, and Darkstorm, go find them. Hailstripe, where are they?"

"Right next to the ShadowClan border." Hailstripe told her. She nodded.

"Go back to the apprentice, take Flamespin with you. The two of you can go back to the cats camp."

"But...Violetstar-"

"Go!"

The cats broke off. The four warriors Violetstar had ordered broke into a run, speeding off to the aide of Ashwing. Flamespin padded confidently toward Hailstripe, his ears twitching slightly as a smug look gleamed in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but Hailstripe cut him off.

"She's this way." He snapped, turning on his paws and leading the other tom towards his clearing. When they reached it he stopped. "Wait here. _I'll_ get her." Flamespin shrugged nonchalantly, sitting down and looking around at the trees like a wondering kit. Hailstripe narrowed his eyes and growled a little, but said nothing. He pushed himself through the tall grass, a small prickle of nervousness in his stomach as he did. _She could not be here_, he thought, _she could've made a break for it._

When he stepped into the clearing he was disappointed that he didn't see any white fluffy she-cats.

He was about to spew out a long line of choice words when a white ball knocked him to the ground. "You're back!" He let out a little 'oof' as he looked into the huge round eyes Whitepaw.

"That's the second time you've ruined my ability of breathing."

"Sorry! I had in the grass…I was scared they might find me."

"It doesn't matter, you're here. Come on, we're taking you home."

"We're? Home? They'll kill me!" Whitepaw's eyes grew round and wide, she wrapped her front paws around his leg. Hailstripe shook her off, rolling his eyes at her unnecessary dramatics.

"Let's go!" With a whine, the enemy apprentice followed him, head down and shoulders sagging.

They met Flamespin outside of the clearing. The ThunderClan tom was lying on his back, batting happily at a butterfly. Hailstripe raised a brow that orange colored tom. He cleared his throat and Flamespin jumped to his feet, eyes wide in surprise.

"I…you'd been gone a long time." He explained.

Hailstripe shrugged, "What you do with your alone time is none of my business." He gave the tom a smug look. "I just…wasn't expecting a full grown tom to be chasing…butterflies…"

Hailstripe started towards the Shadowclan border, a giggling Whitepaw behind him.

He ignored Flamespin's stare.

When he'd been stuck with the tom, he'd been angry…but perhaps the walk to ShadowClan might give him a leg up next time the tom decided to pick a fight.

Hailstripe let amusement spark in his eyes.

_Perhaps I'll enjoy this…_

**A/N: Hope you liked it! Please review! **

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	4. Cheating Love and ShadowClan?

**A/N: Thanks to Amber342 and Guardian-Fan-He for reviewing! Amber342 your review was extremely helpful, thanks! And I'm glad you like my characterization! Hope you enjoy this chapter too! Also, I just noticed I was typing Quil instead of Quail XD I didn't even notice until Amber pointed it out. **

**Also, I know I don't know the look of the ShadowClan camp **_**exactly**_** I typed most of this at school and didn't have a chance to check, sorry, I hope you can look past that and enjoy anyway! Last but not least, lemme give a prayer to the people out there in Boston, I have a cousin in Boston, and she was absolutely devastated about her city. I hope everyone out there is okay and that all that's been taken from you will somehow come back! **

**Cheating Love and What's Happened to ShadowClan? **

_Flashback: Cheating Love_

Violetfire's tail lashed as she stood on the smooth rock. Her fur was blowing in the wind and the constant chill annoyed her. She flattened her ears and let out an impatient huff.

_Where is he?_ _He promised sunset!_

As if on cue, a smooth voice whispered in her ear, "Hello Violetfire." Violetfire dug her claws in the ground. She turned her head to come nose to nose with a large, black-furred tom.

"Hollowstar." She mewed in a friendly tone, hoping he couldn't hear the strain underneath it. The tom sat, keeping his face close to hers.

She knew him as a strong, fearless warrior and an amazing fighter in battle.

But he was a _worthless_ leader.

In fact, he was irresponsible, ditzy, and always ready to risk his life at the worst times.

Violetfire had noticed that since she was an apprentice, and her mother Dawnflower was very meticulous about showing her the weaknesses of Hollowstar's leadership skills.

_I can't let you down, right Dawnflower? _

"You wanted to talk? What is it?" Hollowstar's ears twitched, eyes gleaming with some emotion that Violetfire didn't want to analyze. The orange she-cat took a deep breath.

"_Be smooth…" _Her mother's voice whispered in her ear. _"You are a concerned _friend_, you want to make him feel like you care, that you're there for him, that he can depend on you."_

"It's about…Grayspot…"

"…What…what about him?" Hollowstar instantly looked away, the previous look in his eyes gone, replaced with a dark sadness that made some part of Violetfire feel for him.

"_No!" _Her mother's voice screeched, causing Violetfire to wince involuntarily. _"Your emotions are not in this._"

"The clan is worried," Violetfire mewed, weaving around him so that her body was pressed to his and once again they were nose to nose. "_I'm_ worried."

Hollowstar met her gaze, and Violetfire forced worry into her eyes.

"Please." Violetfire whispered, then pushed her nose ever so lightly against his. "You need to pick a new deputy before it's too late tomorrow. I don't want to push you, but it's been two days, and sure, I've been doing the patrols, but the clan wants a _real_ deputy." Violetfire explained. She gave the tom a small lick on the cheek. His eyes darkened.

"I thank you for taking over the duties but…I'm not sure I'm ready for a new Deputy…he…he might come back…"

"No. He won't. You know that. You have to let him go, he wouldn't want you to be so broken over this. Grayspot was all about the clan, Hollowstar. He needs you to be about the clan too." Violetfire brought her tail across the leader's spine soothingly, keeping her voice calm.

"I…who would I choose? No one could replace him…" Hollowstar's voice cracked and again and Violetfire felt a pang of guilt at what she was doing. She shoved it away, focusing on her task.

"Someone you trust, someone you believe in," Violetfire purred, nuzzling his cheek. Gently, she pushed him to lie down and he did, Violetfire right beside him. "Just, think about it."

The two locked gazes and Violetfire whispered in his ear.

"I know you'll make the right choice."

With another lick to his cheek she stood up, gave him a warm look, and began to pad away into the forest. She let out a breath, finally letting her thoughts take over.

"_You are a horrible cat, Violetfire._" The voice of Mouseheart as their long friendship ended, echoed in Violetfire's mind. The she-cat blinked it away, but more memories came at her.

"_You're a failure!" _

"_What kind of a child did StarClan give me?" _

"_You? Leader? Ha! As if!" _

"_You're worth nothing."_

"_You mean nothing to me."_

"_You are not my daughter." _

"_How could I have ever loved you?" _

Violetfire froze. The last one hadn't been a memory. It was a fear. The red tabby she-cat let out a ragged breath, closing her eyes in an attempt to calm the nerves that made it difficult for her to breathe. She shook her head and opened her eyes again.

_Keep calm,_ she told herself, _Dawnflower can't be mad at you. You've done exactly what she wanted. _With that thought, Violetfire prance forward with false happiness towards the ThunderClan camp. When she reached it she was faced with the suspecting eyes of the many cats who had for days replaced her as deputy.

"Is…something wrong?" She asked them as they stared at her. It was Mouseheart who padded forward to speak to her, the beautiful tortieshell she-cat, Foxspot, behind her.

"Patrols, I already sent them out when you _mysteriously_ disappeared, but your mother's been screaming in my ear about it and every other cat who wanted to listen." The gray she-cat's eyes were dark and cold, much unlike they used to be, so full of life. Violetfire forced herself to look into them. Foxspot gave cast a look between her two old friends.

Violetfire forced her voice to keep steady. "Where is she?"

"Down there, standing in Lioneye and Raggedheart's way." Mouseheart jerked her head towards the two toms trying to pad out of the warriors den.

"No, you cannot leave! _Violetfire _makes the patrols."

"Dawnflower, Violetfire isn't _here_!" Raggedheart whined, and Violetfire felt a prick of amusement at his kit-like manners.

"I'm here now." Violetfire mewed and moved so she was beside her mother. Dawnflower relaxed, standing up a little straighter and nodding at her daughter.

Raggedheart let out a purr and bounced on his paws, "Yes! Now can Lioneye, Lichenfur, Mouseheart, and I go on a hunting patrol?" The brown tom looked pleadingly at the tabby she-cat.

"Just the four of you?"

"Yeah, the others can be used for other patrols. We're running low on prey. You know we'll be good as a team. We always have been." Mouseheart's voice came from behind Violetfire, but the red she-cat didn't turn around until she heard the pawprints of Foxspot. Violetfire blinked again, then nodded silently. A spark of relief shined in Foxspot's eyes, Raggedheart cheered, and Lioneye let out a rumbling purr. Violetfire dug her claws into the ground and bit down on her tongue. _They're ruining everything._

Mouseheart led the three cats away, towards the camp entrance. Violetfire watched, eyes narrowed, as the gray she-cat flicked the two toms with her tail playfully and Foxspot pounced clumsily on Raggedheart's lashing tail. The two gave each other playful looks. Jealousy pulled at Violetfire's heart. She took a breath and shoved it away.

"Soon you'll have everything you want, my dear." The scratchy old voice of Dawnflower pulled Violetfire away from her thoughts. She looked at the elderly cat, whose blue eyes glistened with ambition. "You'll be the leader of the can, and the leader of the forest. Everything will be yours." Dawnflower's tail scraped across Violetfire's spine sending shivers through her body. Violetfire moved away ever so slightly.

"I know," She whispered. "You've been telling me since I was little."

Dawnflower let out a rumbling purr that seemed more like a threatening growl. "Yes, you remember."

Violetfire grimaced as Dawnflower began to recite the words she'd heard for moons and moons as a kit.

"One day, you'll rule the clans, and no one, and nothing, can get in your way unless you let them. All you have to do is keep your head in focus, my dear."

There was a commotion at the entrance of the camp, and Violetfire and her mother's eyes flew towards it. Mouseheart, Foxspot, Raggedheart, and Lioneye were back, and beside them was the long furred tom that all the cats knew as their fearless leader.

Violetfire's breath caught.

The tom looked haggard, restless, and his tail was lashing back and forth. Dawnflower let out a snort of contempt beside her daughter.

"_Weakling_," She whispered. Violetfire tossed her mother a glance, which she ignored, before continuing with her study of the clan leader. His eyes whipped around the camp, searching out each cat.

They lasted a single moment longer on Violetfire, and a tinge of sadness flitted into them.

"I'm naming my deputy now. There's no need for a ceremony, she's already approved by StarClan," Hollowstar called. A gasp flitted through the crowd and cats exchanged worried looks.

_I'm approved by StarClan?_ Violetfire's heart skipped a beat in excitement and she cast an excited look at her mother.

But Dawnflower's pelt was bristling and her eyes were sparking with rage.

"_How dare they?_" She hissed, although Violetfire was unaware of who 'they' were. She didn't understand why Dawnflower was upset. Soon, Violetfire would be deputy and their plan could fall into place. Violetfire puffed out her chest and prepared for the announcement, ready to put on a face of false surprise.

"The new deputy of ThunderClan is the loyal, sweet, _righteous_, she-cat…"

The moment of suspense before the naming sparked with tension as the cats subtly leaned forward in anticipation.

"Foxspot."

_Normal Time: What's Happened to ShadowClan? _

Ashwing let out an annoyed hiss as a pool of bile and blood lay at his paws. He took a slow step back, his eyes rising to lock with the cat that had thrown his lunch at him.

Cedarleaf was still hacking, although there seemed to be nothing left. The cat's body shook violently with each heave, and Ashwing watched with both concern and anger. Quilfeather let out an impatient huff.

"We were prepared to fight, but then everyone started to barf so…_now_ what?" The dark tabby's tail lashed back and forth. Darkstorm put the tip of his tail to her shoulder.

"Why don't we act less…_hostile_?"

"This is not _hostile_."

"Yes, it's very hostile."

"Darkstorm, you don't _know_ my hostile. I can _show_ you my hostile…but you won't like it."

Darkstorm let out an awkward cough.

Ashwing ignored the siblings' argument.

"We'll take them home, where they belong. Let's move." The tom turned on his heels, glad to be away from the stench of barf. He looked back to see Quailfeather as she shoved Nightshine into movement, ignoring her hiss of indignation. Darkstorm was much more gentle with the tomcat that stood still heaving. He gently pressed his black nose to the other tom's shoulder and waited until Cedarleaf started slowly moving forward.

The cat's moved forward as a group, Ashwing leading, with Cedarleaf and Darkstom at the back.

"What do you think they're sick with?" Darkstorm asked. Quailfeather snorted.

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, what if it's contagious and _we_ catch it?"

"We won't. And if we do, Russetspots can fix it." Ashwing's condescending tone hid the spark of worry that flared in his chest.

_And if we get sick…we'll spread it to the clan…_He shoved the thought away, instead, sending a short prayer up to StarClan that the group of ThunderClan warriors wouldn't spread a deadly disease among ThunderClan. He couldn't help the thought of a younger version of his brother nearly dying as a kit of Blackcough.

"Besides, _little_ brother,"Quailfeather mewed, snapping Ashwing back to reality with a mocking purr in her voice, "We don't have time to worry about that. We're walking into a camp that's probably _full _of the disease."

"Shut-up Mouse-brain."

"Mouse-dung."

"_Fox_-dung."

"Oh so now you can cuss? I thought Darkstorm was too high and mighty for that!"

"Whatever!"

"Ha, nice come back, I'll remember your skills next time I get into an argument with Hailstripe. Hey Ashwing," Quailfeather's attention suddenly slipped to the black tom, who'd been listening to the argument with barely concealed annoyance. "How come your brother is so good at come backs? I mean really, he always knows what to say. What does he do? Think about them before the argument even happens?"

Ashwing shrugged, "Let's just focus on getting these two back to camp."

As the cats padded deeper into the territory, a silence overcame them and tension sparked in the air.

_We're about to walk into enemy camp with two wounded warriors…_Ashwing's muscles tensed, as if preparing for attack, his claws slipped out of their sheath. _We have to be ready for anything._

They were halfway to the camp when they ran into a ShadowClan patrol. The patrol came to a sudden halt, both group of cats looking at each other with caution and suspicion.

"What're you doing here?" The lead cat mewed. Ashwing had once hearm called 'Crowwing,' and his black pelt was fluffed with hostility. His eyes were narrowed and his white muzzle was gleaming with matching white teeth.

Ashwing stepped to the side, revealing the two sick ShadowClan warriors struggling to stand behind him.

"Cedarleaf!" One of the ShadowClan cats hissed. The toms' smoky gray fur resettled itself as all hostility was diminished and he ran to the sick cat.

"This is your brother?" Ashwing asked, having noticed the similarities between the cats. The gray tom nodded, still studying his brother, who'd fallen to the ground panting.

"What'd you do to them?" An amber she-cat, whose name was Amberblaze, took cautious steps forward, eyes studying her clan mates.

"Nothing," Darkstorm meowed, and began to explain, "They were chasing an apprentice through our territory, nearly attacked Ashwing until we stopped him. It was a close call actually…and then all of the sudden they started hacking up blood and bile."

"Thanks," Crowwing snapped, although he sounded all but grateful.

"We'll take them back to camp." Cedarleaf's brother mewed, eyes widening with worry as he let Cedarleaf lean on him. Amberblaze carefully padded past Quailfeather, who was watching the amber she-cat with narrowed eyes.

"Actually, we have to talk to Drizzlestar. They were on _our_ territory."

The ShadowClan cats exchanged mysterious glances. A suspicion began to grow in Aswing's mind.

_What's happening in ShadowClan that we can't see? _

"…Fine. You can come." Crowwing's voice was a snarl, and he turned on his paws quickly.

The others followed.

When they entered the camp, they were greeted with a sight they hadn't been prepared for.

The camp smelled of bile, blood, and sickness.

The fresh-kill pile was nearly empty, and a few cats were eyeing what was left with desperate eyes.

Near the warriors' den, a cat coughed, and even from where he stood Ashwing could see the string of blood that flew from his fangs.

He grimaced.

"So, you know what I said about 'walking into a camp full of disease'," Quailfeather's voice was barely a whisper as she came to stand beside Ashwing. "I was kidding."

Darkstorm let out a pitiful whimper.

"Don't say a word." Crowwing hissed, his eyes flashing with anger as he left the ThunderClan cats by the entrance to get the ShadowClan leader. Amberblaze and Cedarleaf's brother helped the sick cats to the medicine den. Ashwing watched, still studying the sick-filled camp.

"What's happened to ShadowClan?" Darkstorm murmured, his head lowering. Ashwing rolled his shoulders in an attempt to rid himself of nerves. He felt as if millions of bugs were crawling all over, attempting to give him ShadowClan's disease. _It's not real. You're fine._

"You feel like creepy-crawlies are all over you too?" Quailfeather asked, her voice quiet. Ashwing nodded. The dark striped she-cat leaned against him briefly, brushing her pelt against his.

"ThunderClan? Why're _you_ here?" A hiss sounded from behind the two cats, and they turned around.

Ashwing found himself eye to eye with a black and white she-cat, covered in scars. The she-cat tilted her head, and Ashwing noticed the absence of one ear.

A memory attempted to pull at Ashwing, but he pushed it away.

_She's like…like…_

"Firefeather?" His voice was a whisper, barely loud enough to be heard.

"What?" The black and white cat asked. Quailfeather and Darkstorm eyed him in confusion. Ashwing coughed.

"N-nothing. We're waiting for your clan mate to bring Drizzlestar to us so we can have a talk with her." He explained. The she-cat snorted.

"Hmph. That'll be difficult."

Quailfeather asked, "Why is that?"

"'Cause…she's crazy too, just like every _other_ cat in this camp." The scarred she-cat rolled her eyes as if the response was obvious.

"Rainscar!" Ashwing heard Crowwing hiss across the camp clearing. Rainscar flinched, but her eyes held defiance even before she opened her mouth. In fact, Ashwing noticed, Rainscar's eyes seemed to defy even themselves.

One eye was blue, and the other was green.

"What?" She snapped, and under breath Ashwing heard her mutter, _"You little piece of half-brained fox-dung."_

He heard Quailfeather stifle a giggle and felt her body shake with the smuggled laughter. Darkstorm blinked in surprise.

"Stop talking to those enemy warriors and...and make yourself useful!"

"I _am_ being useful! I'm telling these ThunderClan cats all are battle secrets so next time we come into battle they won't be _too_ surprised!"

"_Rainscar!"_

"Alright, _alright_," The she-cat snarled, her mismatched eyes rolling again as she turned around, facing the camp entrance again. Her tail lashed in the air. "How about I go hunting for about the _fortieth_ time today? _Alone._ In the _dangerous_ pine forest. _By myself._"

"Good riddance!" Crowwing growled back, watching as the black and white cat gave him a loud snort before watching her strut confidently out of the camp. As soon as she was gone he let out a sigh and hung his head.

He leaped down to meet the three ThunderClan cats.

"Come with me," He mewed, jerking his head towards what Ashwing assumed to be the leader's den.

The three cats followed him. Ashwing saw Darkstorm grimace at ever cough, sneeze, or loud noise that scared him. Quailfeather was staring at everything with narrowed eyes. Ashwing found himself studying the sick with less fear and more curiosity. His eyes settled on a tom cat that was lying on the ground and panting desperately as if the air was nearly too hot to breath.

_What are you sick with?_

And as if the cat heard him his eyes flashed towards him and Ashwing found himself looking into the hazel eyes of the sick cat.

The cat's tongue hung out of his mouth and flapped with every desperate breath.

Ashwing was reminded of something.

_Whiskertail…these cats…they seem…off…like Whiskertail does. _

"What's this sickness called?" Ashwing mewed, taking a few extra paw steps so that he was walking beside Crowwing. Crowwing looked away, his ear twitching.

In a small voice he said, "_The Mad_." The tom suddenly regained his confidence, sticking his head higher into the air, although his eyes still held a smidge of sadness. "Our medicine cat couldn't find anything better to call it."

Ashwing blinked.

_The Mad…_

The black tom was still mulling over the name of the curious disease when they reached the den of Drizzlestar. Crowwing came to a stop.

"Don't look her in the eye, don't speak unless she tells you that you can. Let _her_ talk. It's the best way to keep her…sane. For now." Crowwing's eyes narrowed momentarily before he turned and led the three cats into Drizzlestar's den.

Ashwing heard Darkstorm swallow audibly as they stepped through.

They were never expecting the sight that came to them.

**A/N: Cliffhanger! XD Lol. Sorry, but it just had to end like this. **

**Hope you liked it! Isn't Violetfire scandalous? 83 **

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	5. The Only Option and Prophecy

**A/N: OH MY GOSH THIS IS SO LONG. XD I didn't realize how much I liked typing as Russetpaw, but I guess you get a little hint of more than just what I thought I'd give you. This Flashback is REALLY long, warning you now! Hope you don't get bored 8D **

**THANKS EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! Reviews make me smile, like they really do **

**Amber342- I really enjoy all your corrections, they're really helpful to my writing and I try to think about them while I write. And I'm so glad you like Rainscar! She'll come around a lot more often in the later chapters. And yeah, I've never been that great at describing surroundings, I guess I get lost in my characters a lot XD Thanks for reviewing for every chapter! Oh my gosh it makes me so happy. I check the next chapter and I'm like "OMGIZZLE (I know, I stole it from you, couldn't help it ****) AMBER'S REVIEWED". It's always excitement. **

**Magazinepompom -And I'm glad that you think that my story deserves more reviews, that alone makes me really happy! I'm glad that you like it so much. I write more dramatic stories because well, I wouldn't be the best spoof writer XD I'm sorry your computer's broken! I hope you can fix it soon! And the old story cover I didn't draw, I used that one while I waited until I could actually draw my own. The **_**new**_** story cover is the one I drew. It's probably not as good as the other one but eh, it looks more like my characters so XD It'll do! **

**Now, after those long responses XD I hope you enjoy!**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

_Flashback: The Only Option_

Russetpaw studied the moss.

_It's not _wet_, it's _damp. _Damp is okay, right?_

She let out a sigh.

_No Russetpaw, Poolwing will claw your eyes out if you give her damp bedding. _

The young she-cat moved from the damp moss, searching for some that was drier. In the distance she could hear the sound of birds calling, their voices ringing out into the forest. She let out a relaxed breath. The forest had always made her feel so at peace.

It was one of the reasons she'd never wanted to be a warrior. She hated the killing, the battles, the bloody cries that echoed around the woods, replacing the sound of beautiful birds.

Russetpaw walked farther into the forest, her eyes catching each fallen leaf and twig, remembering a time where a younger Russetpaw would bounce from item to item, crushing them under paw with a purr of amusement.

But lately Fallensky, her mentor, had been telling her to grow up. For some reason Fallensky had been tougher on her the past few moons, and when Russetpaw asked her why the she-cat would snap that she just wanted her apprentice to be prepared for anything.

Russetpaw had eventually given up on asking, instead, just following the suddenly strict she-cat's rules.

"Aha!" She jumped forward, leaping easily over a fallen branch and landing gracefully on the other side. There, she stopped before a patch of perfect moss. "Thought I wouldn't find you, but, I _did_." She said smugly, nodding her head decisively.

She could almost hear Fallensky's voice as she said-

"You know, talking to moss is a sign that you're crazy."

Russetpaw jumped, turning her head quickly, expecting to see a gray striped she-cat with scalding eyes.

Instead, she was met with the familiar gaze of her sister, Shimmerpaw. The golden tabby let out a purr.

"You look like you saw a ghost." The she-cat mewed, her ear twitching. Russetpaw let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

"Don't _do_ that! You scared me so much!" Shimmerpaw laughed smugly at her sister's wide-eyed expression. "You know who you look like?"

"Who?"

"_Hailpaw_." Russetpaw mimicked Shimmerpaw's smug look and added a purr at the end.

There was a pause, Shimmerpaw's eyes narrowing before she let out a laugh, pouncing on the medicine cat apprentice.

The two tumbled forward rolling around the ground letting out mewls of joy and happiness.

And for a moment, Russetpaw forgot about Fallensky's previously weird behavior.

The tussle ended when Shimmerpaw rolled over Russetpaw's paw and the latter she-cat let out a mewl of pain and a laugh before shoving her friend away.

The two young cats lied on the ground, their paws and bellies to the sky.

"_So_," Russetpaw started, tossing her kin a sideways glance. "Considering I don't get my _own_ love life, how 'bout we go over yours?"

"You mean my lack thereof?"

"Oh come on Shimmerpaw, the camp _drools_ every time you walk by."

"They do not."

"Really? Maybe you don't see it, but _I_ do."

"You're just imagining it."

"Shimmerpaw! Violetstar practically uses it against every tom. When the apprentices do a good job she gives them a whole moon at the _Shimmerpaw Shrine._"

"Russetpaw-"

"Okay, I get it that's a little farfetched, but still! Don't you _see_ it? Everyone _loves you_." Russetpaw rolled over to her side so she could look right into her friend's doubt-filled eyes.

"No one I _care_ about drools over me."

Russetpaw's eyes widened before she let out a snort. "_Oooh_. This is like, forbidden love– in camp style!"

"Russetpaw!"

"What? It's true. Mother hates _him_. _His_ mother hates _Mother_. It's like a giant circle of everlasting hatred!"

"Is this supposed to _help_ me?" Shimmerpaw's words were ignored as Russetpaw waved her paws in the air dramatically.

"I mean, when he walks by Mother snarls at him like a badger! I've never seen Violetstar hate _anyone_ as much as she hates him!"

"Russetpaw!" Shimmerpaw broke into her sister's rant with a paw over the other she-cat's mouth.

"Hmmph?" The word came out muffled, and Shimmerpaw didn't even attempt to understand.

"I don't think it's fair that Violetstar can just…make his life miserable. He doesn't deserve it. He's so…nice…and-and _real_… he doesn't like me because my mom is the leader of the clan or because I'm 'pretty'."

Russetpaw held her tongue and let the other cat talk, but her thoughts ran rampant inside her mind. _Pretty? Shimmerpaw, this clan practically worships the ground you stand on. I don't know _how _Hailpaw is the only one not to react to it. _

"I guess that's…great and all but _still,_ Shimmerpaw. That's one cat Mother would like to see fall off a cliff and never come back."

"That's _crude_."

"It's true. Anyway, the point is-" Russetpaw paused, taking a breath and looking directly at her sister. "You've just got to…stop it."

"Stop it?"

"Yeah," Russetpaw shrugged. "You've got to set your eyes on a tom you can actually get. _Without_ having Mother murder them. _That's_ what you've got to do. Think of it like this: if you don't stop talking to Hailpaw he'll _never_ be the warrior he wants to be. Mother will always hold him back because she hates him. You know that's true."

"Yeah but-"

"No buts Shimmerpaw," Russetpaw interrupted, but her tone was soft. She touched her sister's cheek with her nose comfortingly, but it did nothing to rid Shimmerpaw's eyes of their crest-fallen look. "You just have to…do it."

"I wanna be selfish."

Russetpaw let out a small purr of amusement before wrapping her paws around her friend. "I know, I know."

The two were still wrapped in their embrace, Shimmerpaw finding comfort in Russetpaw's friendship, when they heard a rustle in front of them.

They sat up, eyes wide and caution sparking between them. Shimmerpaw leapt to her paws, but Russetpaw followed more slowly.

It was Fallensky that entered from the grass, her gray fur shining in the sunlight. Both apprentices prepared to be chastised for their laziness, Russetpaw shrinking to the ground as if that would protect her.

But Fallensky didn't say anything, instead, she let out a purr, "I guess that moss put up quite a fight, hmm?" The gray she-cat's eyes glistened with amusement as she studied the scene before her. Pieces of moss were sprawled all around the two apprentices, and each wore a look of guilt on their faces.

"Sorry, Fallensky,"

Fallensky looked at the two friends for a moment, her eyes holding strings of emotions that Russetpaw didn't understand.

"Shimmerpaw, can you go collect some new moss while I talk to my apprentice?" After a moment, Shimmerpaw nodded, her golden fur disappearing into the undergrowth without a sound. Russetpaw stared after her friend, wondering if Fallensky had sent her away so she wouldn't witness the brutal talk that was sure to happen.

Russetpaw pressed herself against the ground again as Fallensky took a step towards her.

"I need to talk to you."

The apprentice straightened suddenly, surprise in her eyes. Fallensky didn't sound the least bit lethal. "What is it?"

"I think it's time you get your full Medicine Cat name."

"What? No way! Really, aren't I too young? Oh well, I won't question it! I thought you were going to yell at me but I'm getting my _name_? I can't believe it! I can't wait to go and you're gonna take me and-"

"You'll be going alone."

There was a moment of surprised silence as Russetpaw's excitement deflated. The red-splotched she-cat looked at her mentor in confusion.

"But…I don't understand. You're supposed to…"

"I can't."

"You can't? W-why?" Fallensky looked away at her apprentice's question. The younger she-cat could see the guilt in her mentor's eyes. "Fallensky?"

"Come with me. There's a cliff that I…I have to go to."

"What?"

"Follow."

After a moment of hesitation, the red she-cat moved forward slowly, her paws leading her cautiously after the older cat as they moved through the forest in silence.

"I want you to understand, Russetpaw," Fallensky began in a small voice. "I…StarClan won't always give you the…_best_ choices. Sometimes they give you the only option they can think of." Fallensky looked back at her apprentice.

"You don't have to follow them," She mewed. "But, that can bring destruction to your clan…all the clans." Russetpaw blinked.

_One decision? _Russetpaw wondered, but she didn't ask, something in the older cat's voice kept her quiet.

"Where are we going Fallensky?" Russetpaw finally got the courage to ask, watching her mentor carefully.

"A cliff. I told you."

"But…where are _you _going, Fallensky?"

The gray she-cat froze. Her eyes kept straight forward, emotions playing through her eyes in sequences, surprise, pain, anger, then sadness.

"Somewhere far," Fallensky whispered.

They continued again in mutual silence, Russetpaw's mind racing as she wondered where Fallensky could go.

When they reached the cliff, Fallensky turned, her eyes finding Russetpaw's and searching them, as if there was something special there.

"Fallensky…?"

"Russetpaw I have something to tell you." Fallensky mewed. "I've been…keeping something for you. For a few weeks now actually."

"What?"

"There's a prophecy. I got it many sunrises ago from an old friend of mine," Fallensky's eyes turned to look over the cliff. "Her name was Foxspot."

Russetpaw blinked, the name sounded familiar.

"Foxspot," She mewed, trying to remember the feeling of the name on her tongue. "I _know_ that name."

"You do. She saved your life as a kit."

"Oh."

"And she was close friends with your mother…for a while."

"She was a friend of Violetstar?" Russetpaw's eyes widened. _I didn't know she had friends. _Fallensky nodded at her with a smug look in her eyes that reminded Russetpaw of the usual medicine cat. The apprentice missed the sassy, opinionated cat she'd called her mentor for three moons.

"I'm going to tell you this prophecy, because I won't be able to uphold it where I'm going. But _you're_ going to be able to help them, you know them well."

"Them?"

"The ones the prophecy is about. I can't tell you who they are, you have to figure that out on your own."

"Wait, Fallensky-"

"It's short, but it can be hard to decipher. I know you've never gotten one before but-"

"Fallensky-"

"-you'll do fine I know you will. You're bright-"

"FALLENSKY." Russetpaw yowled. The gray cat paused, eyes trained on her apprentice. For a long moment they were completely silent. Fallensky was the one to speak again, her voice low and her eyes dark.

"_With darkness that runs long_

_They lie precariously on the border of madness_

_And only by following the pathway of the wrong_

_Will they rise against the fog and find strength in weakness." _

"Wait, I don't know what any of that means! How am I supposed to remember this?"

"You'll be fine Russetpaw."

"No I won't! I don't even know what you're talking about!"

"Russetpaw, you have to go…alright? You don't want to see what happens next."

Russetpaw's voice held a tinge of sarcasm. "What happens next? Isn't that a little cryptic Fallensky?"

"Russetpaw, leave. I'd rather be alone for this."

"'This'? What's 'this'?"

"I've got The Mad, Russetpaw,"

"The _what_?" The red-splotched apprentice stared.

"The Mad. It's a disease, and right now, there's no cure."

"What?"

"It's…incurable…and it spreads…rapidly."

Russetpaw took an unconscious step back and Fallensky winced.

"You're fine. You've…you're immune."

"Immune? But…but…I don't…?"

"Just trust me."

"Trust you? How am I supposed to trust you? You're throwing all of this at me…I...I don't even know…"

"Look, Russetpaw. Go home. Go back to camp. Laugh with your friends. Then, when it's time, go to the Moonpool," Fallensky locked gazes with her, and a small glimmer of amusement glowed in her eyes. "I always wanted to call you Russetspots."

Russetpaw stared as Fallensky pressed her nose to her apprentice's cheek.

"I'll see you in your dreams, Russetpaw."

"What?"

"Go home."

The two stared at one another, Russetpaw with wide eyes, Fallensky with a cold calm that made the fur on Russetpaw's neck stand up.

"Go home."

The intensity of the older she-cat's voice pulled Russetpaw out of her haze. The red-splotched she-cat backed away slowly, eyes on her mentor, before turning and erupting into a run, confusion clouding her gaze.

For some reason, she found herself breathing shallowly, her heart racing, fear taking over her body's functions.

It was if her body knew what she didn't.

Then, somehow, as she ran into the camp's entrance, she was calmed. She saw her friends batting at one another playfully, their eyes full of laughter and happiness.

For the moment, she could ignore Fallensky's words.

_I'll see you in your dreams_.

_Normal Time: This is the Prophecy_

"Watch your head. Oh, and don't let him get to close, he'll start staring into your eyes and then he'll think you're either offending him or offering him your other eyeball." Shimmerday muttered her warning through the fur of a piece of prey. Behind her as she entered into the dimly lit cave was the ThunderClan medicine cat, who looked around the cave with slight curiosity.

"And you're saying he's started coughing up blood?"

"Yeahf, lofts of its." Shimmerday mumbled through her bundle. Shimmerday recalled the first time it'd happened. She'd been guarding with Quailfeather when all of the sudden Whiskertail sneezed, blood flying through the air and landing directly onto Quailfeather's face.

Suffice to say they now stayed pretty far away from him when they were on guard duty.

"Alright. I brought him some honey for the coughing. I'm…not exactly sure what to do about the blood…Uh…" Russetspots voice grew quiet as she began listing herbs for different things in a mantra. Shimmerday recognized some of the things, but most of them had no meaning to her.

_How could you remember so much?_ As they walked further into the cave, Shimmerday dropped the vole in her mouth, and they found the white-furred warrior huddled fearfully in the corner. He was shaking and shivering madly, his ears twitching continuously as if he couldn't stop them. He was murmuring something over and over again, something that Shimmerday had begun to memorize from her times in the cave.

"_The Eye is my master. What it wants I wants, what it says I say, I am the Eye, the Eye is me." _She mimicked, mouthing each word with such certainty that Russetspots gave her a concerned look.

"I hope you aren't catching this."

"I think I'm fine. Anyway, no one else has gotten it yet."

"_Yet_."

"Maybe it's just something Whiskertail…_has_." Shimmerday shrugged, padding forward so that she was directly behind the shivering warrior. She shoved the piece of prey with her paw and then backed away slowly. "Whiskertail, _dinner_."

Russetspots gave her a look, "You're treating him like he's a kit."

"How else am I supposed to treat him? Half the time he doesn't even speak cat."

"What?"

"He starts making all these weird noises. He asks you questions in _that_ language. It's insane." Shimmerday sat besides her sister, and the Medicine cat followed suit. Russetspots watched Whiskertail with curious eyes. "Think you know what's wrong with him?"

_Please do,_ Shimmerday begged inwardly. She'd been trying to keep up a calm front about the disease. If her clan mates questioned her she'd lie. She knew it was something all the guards did. They'd seen the worst of the disease, they knew, up close and personal, how horrible it was. The things that Whiskertail had said, and had attempted to do to himself, were often horrific. Shimmerday had woken up many nights panting madly, images of The Eye, and Whiskertail's gruesome acts, haunting her.

Russetspots hadn't responded to Shimmerday's question, instead the spotted she-cat stood up and padded closer to the sick tom.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Looks like he's on the edge of one of his 'moments'."

"Moments?" Russetspots asked, taking another step closer.

"Yeah, it's when he freaks out and starts screaming like a maniac."

"Oh." Russetspots mewed, although she didn't stop. She continued forward until she was right beside the shivering tom. She then plopped down beside him, her front paws in between her back ones, and began to talk happily. "You know, Whiskertail, this morning I saw the _prettiest_ blue jay you could ever imagine. It was different color of a blue jay and-"

"What're you _doing_?" Shimmerday asked, she stared at her friend as if the cat had lost her mind

"I'm talking. What do you think?"

"_Why_?"

"So he can listen." Russetspots explained, as if it was simple to talk to a cat who had no sense of reality.

"Russetspots, he can't actually _hear_ you, ya know."

"I think he can."

"No, he really can't."

"Whose the medicine cat here?" Russetspots meowed sarcastically, one brow raising in question.

"You, but-"

"That's right, me. So I'm going to need you to go over there, shut-up, and plant your dirt-maker in the corner." Russetspots snapped, watching with amusement as her sister went to sit, a glare in her eyes. "I just love it when you-"

"You stopped."

The voice silenced both she-cats instantly. Their eyes flicked to the white-furred tom who still sat shivering next to the Medicine Cat.

"Stopped what?" Russetspots asked softly, breaking the silence.

"You…you were talking…but…but you stopped."

"Oh, would you like me to continue?"

"I…I..Ye-" Whiskertail froze mid-word, his eyes stayed locked on Russetspots eyes, and his mouth hung open. He stayed like that for a few moments until he suddenly erupted into screaming. Russetspots jumped back, grimacing at the noise. She was still wincing when Shimmerday ran forward, wrapping her jaws around the scruff of her neck and dragging her out of the cave.

Russetspots plopped down onto her belly, shaking her head to rid them of their ringing. "It's so…loud…and unexpected."

"Yeah, it is." Shimmerday's ears twitched. "I've never seen him do that before. Just…_freeze_." The golden tabby moved so that she sat beside her sister.

The two stayed silent together for a moment, listening to Whiskertail's tortured screams.

"Violetstar is thinking about mentioning this at the next gathering."

"Mentioning what? His disease?"

"Yeah. Ashwing says that it's all over the ShadowClan camp, she's hoping maybe they might've found a cure, or the other clans might."

"Oh."

"…You know what else Ashwing says?"

"Hmm?"

"ShadowClan calls this _The Mad_, 'cause the cat's go insane," Shimmerday snorted, amusement sparkling in her sapphire eyes. "Isn't that great?"

There was a silence, and Shimmerday could feel the tension grow.

"No, that's not great. That's bad, awful, _horrible_."

"What? Why? The disease needs a title."

Russetspots let out a frustrated hiss, jumping to her paws and shocking even the much far-gone Whiskertail, causing his screams to grow louder, "That's not the problem," She explained, "I've _heard_ of this before, a long time ago. _Moons_ ago. Before…before Fallensky jumped."

Shimmerday's eyes widened. _Fallensky killed herself a long time ago…_ "What's that got to do with this?"

"Basically…well…I think…I think she told me that this…_Madness_…would appear again, and that there were cats who could find out the cure. She told me the prophecy. I-I still remember it."

"There's a _prophecy_? But there are only prophecies when bad things are going to happen-"

Russetspots gave Shimmerday an almost unperceivable nod.

"_No way_," Shimmerday stared in amazement. There hadn't been a prophecy for…well moons. The Clans had lived in peace- more or less. She hadn't expected a _prophecy_ in her time. She'd heard of stories from Hollyblaze and the older warriors, but she'd never really thought of it has _real_. The idea had always been just out of reality's grasp for her…but now it _was_ reality. "Tell me." She mewed earnestly, leaning toward her sister. Russetspots nodded silently, closing her eyes as if repeating the words of her mentor was something that took heavy concentration.

"_With darkness that runs long,_

_They lie precariously on the border of madness,_

_And only by following the pathway of the wrong_

_Will they rise against the fog and find strength in weakness."_

The two she-cat's stared at each other for another moment, both hesitating to speak. Whiskertail's screams began to die down behind them.

"So do you think-" Russetspots cut Shimmerday off brusquely.

"-That if I don't figure out who this is about, then we'll all die? Yeah."

"Do you know what any of it means?"

"Well, the first part…_darkness that runs long_…I don't have a clue. I don't understand the second part either. Actually, I don't understand a _thing_ about it."

"Have you even-"

"Thought about it? Course I have. All the time. I could never figure it out. It's been so long I thought…I thought that maybe…maybe she'd been wrong."

"Well…I guess not." Shimmerday looked away, her eyes finding their way to the now silent cave. _He's probably asleep. Tuckered himself out with all that frantic hollering…_

"The worst thing is, Shimmerday," Russetspots mewed, "I…feel like there's something bad coming. Something _really _bad. It's like, even the prophecy can't stop what's coming next. Does that sound crazy? I mean StarClan wouldn't give us a prophecy that didn't work, right?"

"'Course not," Shimmerday responded, but she was mostly convincing herself. She pressed her tabby fur to her sister's splotched coat. "I'm sure…I'm sure we'll figure it out." She assured, and Russetspots nodded, a grateful look in her eyes.

Shimmerday turned forward, eyes trained on the cave that surrounded the white-furred tom sick with The Mad. She wondered if they'd be able to cure him. She wasn't sure if the disease was fatal, but she was nearly positive that a disease that made you hack up your own blood wasn't easy to get over.

Shimmerday looked up at the sky, sending a silent prayer up to StarClan. _If you're up there,_ she prayed, _then you'll save us_.

She could almost swear she heard a gentle whisper pass by her in the wind.

_Always_.


	6. Revenge and the Gathering

**A/N: Sorry! This is really long and I know it took forever for me to upload it and everything but it's EOC week at my school and well…it's just…difficult...So, sorry for my busyness. I'll try to do better, the school years almost over so I should be okay, soon I'll have WAY more time to write this, so yeah, hope you enjoy. At least it's extra long, the longest chapter I've written actually XD There are probably mistakes because I finished it and then just uploaded it because I was tired, but still :D hope you like it anyway.**

_Flashback: Revenge_

Ashpaw raced through the woods, his vision blurry as he narrowly avoided running into things multiple times.

_Why would she…why would _he_ do that to me? He knew! _

Ashpaw let out a whimper with his thoughts, continuing to run until his paws seemed to decide it was time to stop.

He skidded to a halt in front of tall green sprigs of grass. They reach up higher than him, and he looked at them with a sort of forlorn want.

_If only I could be like them. Reach all the way to StarClan and never stop. That way no one would ever be able to cut me down…_

The tom was almost okay with that, until he heard a voice in his head.

"_Don't you think that's a little unrealistic?" _

Ashpaw backed away. He _knew _that voice.

He could almost see the outline of Shimmerpaw next to him as she chastised him.

"_Don't be so childish Ashpaw."_

Suddenly she wasn't alone, and Ashpaw's head spun around to face an imaginary Hailpaw, who stared at his brother with smug eyes.

"_That's probably why Shimmerpaw didn't want to be with you."_

Ashpaw stared in horror.

"But you're more immature than I am!"

"Ashpaw?" A small voice came from behind him. The tom's eyes widened. _No! Not more! _

The black tom let out a wail of despair and raced into the green grass, "No leave me alone!"

"Wait! Ashpaw? Where are you going?"

Ashpaw tumbled away from the voice, rolling through the grasses, his paws leading him where his blurry eyes couldn't. He finally reached an end, rolling into a dirt-covered clearing and landing hard on his stomach. He left out a small sound of pain before getting to his paws.

In the clearing, the trees didn't cover the sun, and he blinked at the brightness, backing up slightly in an attempt to escape it.

When his eyes adjusted to the sun he found himself looking at a large round clearing. It was entirely circled by the tall green grass, and as he was small, he found himself unable to see over the top of them.

Ashpaw took a few more steps into the clearing. He could hear paw steps stepping through the grass behind me, but he ignored them.

Something about this clearing calmed, and he walked to the center of it.

In the depths of the green grass he could see beautiful white flowers, with dewdrops still covering them from the recent rain. He took a step forward and sniffed them, filling his nose with the sweet scent.

The grass behind him rustled and he heard a yelp and the sound of a thud. He turned around, seeing dust floating in the air around a small gray-striped apprentice. Ashpaw let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh. It's just you."

"How enthusiastic, nice to see you too," The gray she-cat gave him a roll of her eyes. "Who'd you think it was crazy?"

"I was worried…"

"About what?"

"N-nothing!"

Cricketpaw sat up, her ears twitching as she gave the black apprentice and eyeroll.

"_Sure_, I _totally_ believe that. You were talking to yourself, and then you freaked out when I showed up."

Ashpaw ignored her words, deciding to change the subject instead. "What're you doing out here anyway?" Cricketpaw shrugged, getting to her paws and padding closer to him, her demeanor suddenly gentle.

She studied her paws, "Shimmerpaw told me about what happened," Ashpaw turned away. "I wanted to make sure that…that you were okay."

"Why? Shimmerpaw doesn't care. Hailpaw doesn't care. Why would _you_? You're just…_you._"

"Normally, I might take that to offense," Cricketpaw retorted, sounding offended anyway, "But I know you're angry, and when you're angry you say things you don't mean." The gray cat closed her eyes, sticking her nose up in there and repeating her words as if it was a chant.

"Cricketpaw, what're you doing?"

"I'm reminding myself that you aren't _really_ a jerk. You're just upset."

"Cricketpaw…?"

"What?"

"Stop. It's not helping."

The striped she-cat let out a growl, her eyes flashing in anger, "Well if you'd give me one second of _peace_ maybe it would!" She let out a breath, regaining her composure. "Look, I know you're upset Ashpaw, but-"

"But what? My brother turned on me! Shimmerpaw…doesn't…doesn't like me. I'm unlovable."

Cricketpaw snorted, "Don't you think that's a little bit dramatic?" Ashpaw gave her a hurt look and she winced, realizing the cruelness of her words. "Sorry."

"Violetstar looks at me like I'm going to kill everyone, you're the only person whose noticed I'm missing."

"That's not true!" Cricketpaw mewed, bouncing forward onto her paws. For the moment, Ashpaw could see the fluffy gray she-kit that had been born two moons after himself. "Mouseheart was freaking out! Really! And Hailpaw feels like he's killed you!"

"He killed my heart."Ashpaw murmered, and Cricketpaw glared at him.

"Oh goodness Ashpaw pull yourself together!" The she-cat took a step closer to him. "You're not alone. And it's just _one_ she-cat out of everyone in the entire clan! Besides, Shimmerpaw and Hailpaw are a disaster waiting to happen."

"What makes you think that?"

"Her mother will never let them be together, Ashpaw. Never." Cricketpaw's eyes narrowed for a moment. "You've seen how much she hovers over Shimmerpaw's life. Neither you, or Hailpaw were ever going to be with her."

Ashpaw paused, not looking at his friend.

_She's right. Violetstar does seem to hate Hailpaw and I. _He took a deep breath and looked up at her, meeting her green eyes.

"Fine. Okay."

Cricketpaw pressed her fur comfortingly against his. "Ashpaw, I…um…I know you're going to hurt for a while, but there's plenty of prey in this forest, and you'll find someone. I _promise_." The gray she-cat gave out a purr. Ashpaw nodded, attempting to regain his regular behavior.

"Only because you promised."

Digging her nose into his shoulder she let out a contented sigh. Ashpaw would've been comfortable standing like that for a while, but something caught his eyes.

Through the grasses Ashpaw could see a flash of red fur.

"What's going on out there?"

Cricketpaw looked up, eyes following his gaze. The fur was gone, and she gave him an inquisitive look, clearly asking if he was insane.

"I saw something, really. Come on," Ashpaw moved forward, and with a snort Cricketpaw followed, bounding along behind him.

They slid through the tall grasses carefully, cautious not to be seen or heard in case there was danger.

Through the tall grasses the apprentices could see Flamepaw, an apprentice they both knew very well as a cruel, sadistic, bully of a tom, was pinning down a she-cat much smaller than him. The she-cat struggled, and Ashpaw noticed that her fur looked like flames as she wiggled.

"I saw her at the gathering the other day. Firefeather. She got her name like two moons ago. She…Violetstar said she killed Raggedheart."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the two apprentices as memories of the loss of Violetstar's mate overcame them.

Raggedheart had died a little over a moon ago, and Firefeather had been there when he'd fallen. Violetstar had been in such distress that she told the four clans that Firefeather was a murderer and had killed Raggedheart out of the evilness of her own heart.

Suffice to say the red tabby had gone a little crazy then.

Ashpaw's voice was barely a whisper, "Do you think she crossed the border?"

The question had two sides. If she'd crossed the border, she was probably the murderer Violetstar made her out to be.

"No. At least she doesn't seem like she would. I talked to her once. She's really sweet." Cricketpaw stretched out her neck to get a better view. "What's happening to her?" Ashpaw shushed her, leaning forward with his ear in front of him.

Flamepaw was snarling something in Firefeather's face. Ashpaw tried to pick up the words.

"_You shouldn't have murdered my father." _The orange apprentice growled, pressing his unsheathed paw against her throat.

"I…didn't!" Firefeather squealed, squirming harder, her eyes wide in fear as his claws began to squeeze lightly on Firefeather's windpipe.

Cricketpaw jerked forward, but Ashpaw stopped her. He could smell Violetstar nearby and he knew she'd put a stop to it.

Moments later Violetstar made her appearance.

From what Cricketpaw and Ashpaw could see through the tall grasses, the two ThunderClan cats and their invader were underneath a large crop of trees. The ground beneath them was covered in thick roots and mosses. It looked like any other part of the forest.

Violetstar's eyes widened as she walked out from behind a nearby bush.

"Flamepaw! What're you doing?"

Flamepaw looked up suddenly, surprise and confusion in his eyes.

"But….but I thought…."

"Don't _kill _her. ThunderClan cats aren't _murderers_."

Ashpaw and Cricketpaw exchanged relieved glances.

"Oh...I'm…I'm…uh…"

"We're going to make her pay for Raggedheart's life."

Ashpaw felt his heart drop while Cricketpaw gasped beside him.

Violetstar had heard the noise. Cricketpaw pressed deeper into the grasses. For a moment, Ashpaw was sure she was going to see them. _Please don't find us…_Luckily she dismissed it with a flick of her ear, continuing her gaze on the pinned orange cat beneath her son.

However, Firefeather's eyes flicked over to the grass as well, and it was obvious that she saw the two apprentices. Cricketpaw's eyes widened in fear.

"She's going to tell Violetstar. Violetstar's going to kill us. _Violetstar's going to kill her_." Cricketpaw's voice was high-pitched in hysterics. "_Our clan Leader is a murderer._"

"Shhh." Ashpaw snapped, holding his tail over his friend's mouth. "Be quiet." He looked back at Firefeather, locking his eyes on her. The orange cat looked panicked, and she was pleading with her eyes for her life.

Ashpaw looked away. Cricketpaw glared him.

She whispered, "Aren't we going to help her?"

"If we help her then Violetstar will kill us."

"And if we don't? We'll go to the Dark Forest for murder!"

"We're not killing her! Neither is Violetstar, remember?"

"She's going to _torture_ her, Ashpaw. "

"Shh!" The tom growled lowly, his eyes flitting away filled with guilt. In front of them he heard Violetstar order Flamepaw to begin.

Despite himself, he looked up, just catching the flash of claws as Flamepaw brought his paws down and slashed Firefeather's cheek. Firefeather let out a loud hiss of pain, squirming even more.

"Stop moving." Flamepaw ordered angrily, his eyes flashing. Firefeather froze, still leaning as far as she could away from him.

"More." Violetstar said, watching with a sort of sick enjoyment as Flamepaw continued to slash at the RiverClan she-cat.

Beside Ashpaw, Cricketpaw coughed feebly into his black pelt. She refused to watch, but Ashpaw couldn't move his eyes away from the grisly scene before him.

It wasn't his claws piercing her flesh.

His teeth didn't dig into her skin.

He wasn't laughing at her cries of pain and terror.

Yet he felt as guilty as if they were.

He felt as if it was his claws, and his teeth, and his laugh.

And as Ashpaw watched he knew the scene would never leave his memory.

_The Present: Gathering_

Ashwing sat by the camp entrance, his eyes rolling in annoyance as his tail lashed behind him.

_They're taking to long._ His eyes narrowed as he watched Hailstripe stare up at the sky in boredom.

"You could come do that over _here_." He mewed, although Hailstripe was only a few feet away from him.

Hailstripe looked up, eyes still dazed, "Huh?"

Ashwing let out a sigh. "We're about to leave, come wait with me." Hailstripe shrugged, unfazed by his brother's nature. He was used to it now. The two siblings sat side by side, Ashwing brooding and Hailstripe daydreaming.

Ashwing felt slick fur rub against his.

He turned, eyes meeting the face of Quailfeather, whose dark tabby coat fluffed around her. Her eyes were narrowed and she let out a snort. "I got wet."

Ashwing pressed against her to give her some sort of warmth while Hailstripe attempted to hide his amusement.

He failed.

After another few moments more cats began their way towards the entrance. Shimmerday was walking besides Cinderfrost, the two talking with each other casually. Lioneye, Mouseheart, and Robintail were erupting from the warriors' den. Mouseheart let out a yawn, and Ashwing assumed the three had taken a nap after the evening patrol. Darkstorm was walking towards the group of cats briskly while Duskpaw, Fallingpaw, and Heatherpaw passed a sour-looking Morningpaw. Violetstar was the last to appear, her coat washed pristinely as usual, her same air of confidence following her with every step.

Ashwing dipped his head to her, ignoring the unsettling feelings in his stomach.

_I still haven't grown used to it. _

The tabby she-cat gave him a warm glance, and Ashwing could almost hear her thoughts.

_You've gained my trust. _

But truthfully Ashwing hated her. Ever since the day he saw her attack Firefeather, he realized that she was nothing but a monster in a fur pelt. Besides him, Quailfeather let out a loud sneeze.

"If I got a cold, I'm going to _kill him_." The she-cat glared at her brother as Darkstorm made their way to the trio. Ashwing rolled his eyes, getting to his paws as Violetstar began to lead the group of cats away from their camp.

_Finally_, Ashwing thought. Behind him, he could hear Quailfeather screaming at her brother about shoving her in the river on their hunting patrol. He was trying to ignore them when his golden-striped brother caught his attention.

"So, do you think our _lovely _leader is going to say anything about our little 'crazy' problem?"

Ashwing gave a shrug, "It won't matter. I'm sure Drizzlestar will mention it."

"I thought you said Drizzlestar was, and I quote, "Too crazy to function"." Ashwing paused, remembering the sight he'd seen at the ShadowClan camp. The she-cat had immediately attacked Crowwing upon his entrance, screeching about how her own clan was plotting against her. She raced around the cave until collapsing into exhaustion. Only after she'd screamed many strange things at the group of warriors. The black tom shrugged.

"Maybe she's better."

Hailstripe snorted in disbelief. "Whiskertail's not 'better'. Well actually I take that back, maybe he _is _better. The only thing he flirts with now is his precious eye. I'm sure the she-cats are grateful for that." Ashwing shook his head, ignoring his brother's chortle of laughter. "Oh come on Ashball." Hailstripe mewed, shouldering his sibling with another laugh. Ashwing let out a sigh of defeat.

"Alright, I'm sure the she-cats don't mind."

Suddenly Quailfeather and Shimmerday appeared beside the two toms. Ashwing attempted to ignore that Shimmerday was pointedly on Hailstripe's side.

"We don't mind what?" Quailfeather asked, tilting her head.

Ashwing glared as Hailstripe gave Shimmerday a good-natured shove with his shoulder and she laughed.

"_Hullo_?" Quailfeather moved so that she was in his line of vision, her wide amber eyes catching his attention.

"Oh, sorry, what?"

The she-cat rolled her eyes with a huff, "Sometimes I can _almost_ forget you're related to Hailstripe." She flicked her tail against his pelt. "Then you pull stuff like this. Zoning out while you stare at Shimmerday for intense long periods of time. It's really weird."

Ashwing snorted defiantly, "I do _not _stare at her intensely."

"Yes you do! I _always_ catch you looking at me like you're going to eat me!" Shimmerday piped up.

Hailstripe wiggled his brows, "I'm sure you'd make a delicious snack."

Shimmerday laughed shaking her head and pushing him away as he tried to get closer.

"Since when do you two get a long so well?" Ashwing asked through clenched teeth. Hailstripe shrugged.

"Dunno, yesterday she hated me."

"I didn't! We've always gotten along," Shimmerday mewed. Quailfeather shook her head.

"No, you're just in denial. Maybe they just finally grew up Ashwing," The tabby she-cat purred, turning her head to the black cat. At his angry glance, she narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What's wrong?"

Ashwing turned away, feeling anger make his pelt spark. The fur on the back of his neck rose.

"Nothing, look I gotta go."

"Go where, bro, we're _all_ going the same way."

Ashwing ignored his brother, pushing forward until he was in front of everyone else besides Violetstar, Robintail, and Lioneye. The three of them were muttering to each other, although the conversation seemed tense. Ashwing moved closer, trying to subtly lean forward in order to hear.

He could hear Lioneye's voice, "What do you think the clans will think whenever they hear about…you know."

"I'm not sure we should tell them. Let them think we're free from the disease." Violetstar's voice was tense, almost angry. Ashwing felt himself becoming jumpy. Violetstar rarely showed her anger.

"But they might think that we've caused the disease if not one of our cats our sick." Robintail mewed, "It's only Whiskertail anyway, just one. We won't seem weak."

"Especially compared to ShadowClan," Lioneye intoned. "They're more likely to be attacked than us." Violetstar nodded, but didn't say anything.

They'd arrived at the island, and as the three warriors began to cross carefully, Ashwing felt anxiety about the abundance of cats in the clearing.

Anxiety about one she-cat in particular.

"Ashwing, your next," Darkstorm's voice was right behind him, and Ashwing pulled himself out of his head to pad across the large bark. He crossed easily, barely needing to focus to make the way.

He landed gently on the other side, moving out of the way to allow the other ThunderClan cats to get across.

The black tom made his way into the clearing. At the base of the tree where the deputy's sat was a familiar fire colored sliced up she-cat.

_Firefeather._

Ashwing moved away, avoiding her. He found an empty place, looking behind him to make sure he was alone.

And he thought he was

But he bumped into a smaller cat and soon found himself wrong. The cat let out a small '_oof'_.

"Oh," He mewed, turning around suddenly and coming eye to eye with the mismatching gaze of a black and white she-cat.

Ashwing had pushed her onto her side, she was much smaller than him, so small he imagined he could step on her.

"Hi," He mewed.

He studied the scars lacing her pelt.

"Hi," She responded, eyes narrowed, her tone laced with annoyance.

"Rainscar, right?"

"Yeah. And you, you're Ashwing," She said sharply. She pushed herself to her paws. Ashwing noticed how weak she looked, her waist was tiny and her ribs were showing. She looked as if she was tired.

He remembered that when he'd seen her in the ShadowClan camp she'd been told to go hunting, for what apparently had been a second time.

"You should watch where you're walking, Mouse-brain." The black and white she-cat shook her head, bits of grass and twigs flying off. Ashwing ducked his head.

"Sorry."

"Yeah, whatever," She shrugged. "I'm alright. So are you. No harm done."

Ashwing was still standing, and he debated walking away, but something about the way Rainscar was watching him made him change his mind. He sat a tail's length away from her.

He watched the clearing chatter amongst themselves, cats of every clan mingling amongst each other.

Except one.

ShadowClan sat in a huddled group of shaking, skinny cats. Each one looked extremely unhealthy and malnourished, their eyes flitted around as if imaginary foes were surrounding them.

Ashwing studied Rainscar, who didn't look much like the other cats from her clan besides how hungry she seemed.

"What's up with your clan?" He asked, watching her as she began to shuffle her paws uncomfortably.

Rainscar's voice came out soft, which seemed wrong against her scarred pelt and naturally angry looking features. "You saw our camp. It's…they're…afraid I guess." Suddenly she jerked upwards, a snarl escaping her muzzle. "But you aren't going to say a word to any of your tree climbing clan mates, got it?" Ashwing's eyes widened and she seemed to take his fearful gaze as confirmation.

"Good. Because if you do, I'll hunt you down and catch you like you catch squirrels." The she-cat let out a short snort, turning her head forward to watch as the RiverClan leader, Sedgestar leapt to the top of the leader tree.

Ashwing opened his mouth to respond, but decided not to.

The two cats sat in awkward silence for a moment before Rainscar began to speak.

"You don't talk much do you? And I'm guessing that you don't like others who do."

Ashwing squirmed a bit. "I like silence better."

"How come?"

"I don't have to talk nice." Ashwing said truthfully, unaware at why he was speaking so openly with the she-cat. She let out an amused purr.

"I can understand that. You could see that my clan and I aren't always on the best of terms," The she-cat's gaze flicked to the dark gray tom standing on the leaders' tree. It was obvious he didn't belong. His paws scuffled against the bark nervously and his eyes glanced around in anxiety. "He shouldn't be up there."

"Drizzlestar wasn't able to make it I'm assuming."

"Not if you didn't want war among the clans. Drizzlestar believes everyone is conspiring against her, even her own clan mates. She's…drastically fallen from her normal sanity." Rainscar rolled her shoulders as if the subject was uncomfortable.

"We'll be starting the gathering now." Violetstar's powerful voice reined above the talking cats. The she-cat gained her request for silence almost instantly, their eyes facing her. Ashwing dug his claws deep into ground, feeling his paw pads fill with mud and muck. The sensation was both strange and welcome.

Rainscar let out a snort, "If that leader of yours isn't arrogant than I'm not rude." The she-cat's ear twitched, and although Ashwing agreed with her he found himself unable to speak against his leader.

"Violetstar? Since you've caught the cats attention, why don't you speak first?" Sedgestar's voice was icy-cold, his hatred for the violet tabby obvious.

"Thank you, Sedgestar," The ThunderClan responded, her voice warm, as if his rudeness was lost on her. "ThunderClan is doing quite well, we've gained five new apprentices. One of which has not come. Duskpaw, Heatherpaw, Fallingpaw, and Sunpaw: the medicine cat apprentice."

As the cats cheered the four names excitedly, Violetstar looked over them with a calm light in her eyes.

Once it quieted she continued, "I don't believe there's much else to say, although the recent and quite strange intrusion from a few warriors was quite the curiosity." Violetstar gave a glance at Crowwing, surprisingly he kept his head up high despite the unneeded attention the ThunderClan leader had brought on him. "I'm sure that ShadowClan has a good reason. In fact- Crowwing isn't it?- Why don't you go next?" The she-cat was obviously ordering the gathering, Bushstar and Sedgestar bristled, but Violetstar seemed oblivious to their glares.

Crowwing blinked in surprise before jolting forwards.

"This'll be interesting," Rainscar muttered under her breath, then louder she shouted, "Don't screw up Crowbutt!"

The tom couldn't have known exactly who it was amongst all the cats in the crowd, but his eyes narrowed in a look that Ashwing suspected was something Rainscar was quite used to getting. The black and white she-cat let out a hearty purr, obviously amused.

Ashwing watched as the ShadowClan step-in cleared his throat and began "ShadowClan has been…plagued by a disease, our Medicine Cat calls it the Mad, because it drives a cat insane," The clans grew silent, even the leaders studied each other with solemn faces. "Drizzlestar has been infected, in fact, many of the ShadowClan cats have been infected. I know, quite well, the danger of telling all the clans how…dangerous this is for ShadowClan, but I can't find any other solution. Our medicine cats can't control this on their own. We _need_ a cure."

The silence in the clearing made Ashwing's heart pulse and the fur on the back of his neck stand up.

_I'm just nervous, there's no reason to feel like this. _

"If the cure is not found," Crowwing mewed, his voice low. "ShadowClan will die.

Commotion broke out amongst the clans, cats becoming hysterical.

Some screaming that ShadowClan deserves it, since when has it ever helped anyone.

Beside him, Rainscar bristled angrily.

It was Sedgestar who called for silence, gaining it as quickly and easily as Violetstar had before.

"All of you are fools!" He hissed, tail lashing. "This gathering is not over, in _I_ have something pressing as well." Sedgestar's eyes flitted to Crowwing, a softness associated with sympathy entering them.

"I apologize for your loss, I do, but I must say what I've come to say." The tom turned back to the crowd of cats below. "There's been murders in my clan."

A gasp rippled through the cats.

"_Murders? More than one?"_

"_Whose responsible?"_

"_Who're the victims?" _

"_Find them!" _

"Silence!" Bushstar hissed, glaring at the cats. The WindClan leader's long bushy tail lashed back and forth.

"We don't know who it is, but we know it's someone. They've murdered an apprentice named Silverpaw, and a few cats have gone missing, although we haven't found their bodies." Sedgestar's eyes took on a defeated glare. "If anyone knows anything, you _must_ tell us."

"_We don't have to tell you anything!"_

"_What've you done for us?"_

"_You're nothing but a scrawny fish-face!"_

"_Say that to my face Fox-dung!" _

"_RiverClan has more guts than ThunderClan does anyday!" _

Rainscar let out an annoyed howl, leaping unto a nearby boulder claws outstretched.

"Shut-up you yowling bunch of loud mouths and listen to what the leaders have to say. There's a reason _they're_ in charge and _you_ are _not._" The black she-cat had gotten her silence. Warriors weren't supposed to say anything, especially not one who had the appearance of Rainscar. Ashwing respected the she-cat, the scars lacing up and down the she-cats body would've made anyone self-concious, but Rainscar seemed oblivious to the fact.

"Thank you, uh…" Sedgestar looked at Rainscar in confusion. He shook his head a moment and continued. "Please, it would be…more than appreciated if you'd tell us all you know."

"Do you have any suspects?" Violetstar asked, peering at the RiverClan leader curiously. The tom turned sharply, coming eye to eye with the she-cat.

"Actually, yes. Silverpaw's body was found on the ThunderClan border." Sedgestar's eyes narrowed. Violetstar blinked, as if the words didn't register in her mind.

"Oh shoot," Rainscar murmured. She'd come back beside Ashwing, her eyes wide at RiverClan's veiled accusation.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Silverpaw's body was near ThunderClan." Sedgestar repeated, then added, "RiverClan and ThunderClan have always had a rivalry, and now it's reached its peak." The tom's voice rang out into the silence.

"Obviously," He mewed. "ThunderClan murdered Silverpaw."

Yowls of protest echoed throughout the clearing. Ashwing could sense the tension building layering upon his own anxiety.

"Dang it!" Rainscar hissed beside him, both of them jumping away and narrowly escaping free-flying claws.

In a matter of moments the tension had become aggression, and it was taking over the minds of the cats in the clearing.

A full blown battle between the four clans had begun at the Gathering.

In the sky, Ashwing could see clouds racing across the black night to cover the full moon.

It only took a moment before everything had turned a dreadful dark.

The clans went quiet, the violence stopped, Ashwing's eyes began to adjust to the darkness. The leaders were leaping down to the clearing, all of them bristling with anger.

"This gathering is _over_." Violetstar snapped, glaring at each warrior she passed.

"I'll be talking to you Violetstar," Sedgestar mewed, his warriors already gathering behind him. The tabby she-cat didn't give him a response, instead she waved her tail for her warriors. Rainscar bumbped her shoulder against Ashwing.

"Later furball," She mewed, and although her words were meant jokingly, her tone held anything but amusement. Ashwing watched the cat stalk away, running to catch up with her ShadowClan clan mates.

Ashwing spotted Hailstripe, Shimmerday, Quailfeather, and Darkstorm standing beside each other. Hailstripe had a long rip in his shoulder that moved to his side. He was limping precariously, but there was a slight smirk on his face as Shimmerday fawned over him. Ashwing moved closer with a scowl.

"Shimmerday I'm fine." Hailstripe purred, laughter in his voice.

"This is my fault, I should've fought back my self."

"And break the code? Nah."

"You still broke it,"

Hailstripe shrugged while Shimmeraday let out a frustrated meow. Ashwing felt anger pulse beneath his pelt, but he held it at bay.

_Now is not the time to be angry. Focus on the fact that tonight, the code was broken, and that someone is blaming ThunderClan for murder. _

It was a fact that Ashwing couldn't understand, something that made his mind whir with confusion.

A whole clan, conspiring against another and killing cats one by one.

That was nothing but a nightmare.

Then again, perhaps Ashwing lived in a nightmare.


	7. Jealousy and I See Crazy

**A/N: SCHOOL IS FINALLY OVER! But I've had such bad writer's block. I was so tempted not to go back and check my errors, I might have some bad spots, so sorry in advance, but I hope it's not too bad anyway! **

_Flashback: Jealousy_

Violetpaw let out a squeal as she was pinned to the ground by her friend.

She hit the dirt with a thud, sending dust floating in the air around them and causing her to let out a small sneeze, which sent her orange-furred assaulter flying back.

"_Eww_, Violetpaw!" Foxpaw rubbed at her face with her paws, squealing as she did so. Mousepaw laughed at the side of the small clearing. The gray she-cat was hiding inside tall green grasses, her gray pelt showing in slivers between the jade sprigs.

The three apprentices chatted, occasionally batting at one another with laughter. For a while they rested in comfortable silence, until Violetpaw broke it with giggles.

"Did you see Squirrelpaw today?" She laughed again, flashing a white-dipped paw over her mouth in an attempt to control herself.

Mousepaw pounced out of the grass as if she was hunting, the fluffy ball of fur landed right in front of her friend.

"What happened?"

Taking a deep breath, Violetpaw began to tell the tale.

"Well, Lionpaw was sitting with Raggedpaw and Robinpaw, and Squirrelpaw came over. You all know that swaggering walk she does whenever she's trying to get someone's attention?" Violetpaw stood up, swaying her hips side to side dramatically in demonstration.

Foxpaw snorted, "How do we _not_? It's so distracting. She walks that way all the time."

"Well it was especially bad today," Violetpaw mewed, sitting back down, amusement sparking in her eyes as her friends leaned in. "And she was walking past them, like, five times, swishing her tail around like a maniac." Violetpaw paused to snicker, and her friends followed suit, their giggles filling the silence of the forest.

"What'd they say?"

"Well, Squirrelpaw was going for Lionpaw's attention," Violetpaw snorted at Mousepaw's widened eyes, but it was Foxpaw who responded.

"Don't be silly, Mousepaw. Lionpaw couldn't give a rat's rump about that she-cat!" The small apprentice shouldered her fluffy-furred friend before turning back to Violetpaw.

"Yeah, that's the thing. Lionpaw was talking, and it was Squirrelpaw's fifth time in front of them, and he just turned to her and told her that if she's gonna stalk him, if she could do it more covertly!"

They trio fell unto their backs in the grass, each erupting into uncontrolled giggles.

Violetpaw let out a sharp laugh. "You should've seen her _face_! She was so surprised and embarrassed. I thought she was going to wail for her mother!"

"Cloverleaf would have told her 'suck it up, if you weren't such a baby you wouldn't have had that problem'." Foxpaw's chest puffed out and she stretched out the muscles in her face to make herself look older.

Mousepaw sat up, still chuckling intensely. "I wish I would've been there."

The three continued their conversation's, not necessarily talking about much, but being friends. With the beautiful grass clearing around them donned with bright white flowers, they felt lost in time, untouchable from the world's demands and dangers.

Violetpaw was stalking a butterfly when she heard a squeal erupt behind her.

Turning sharply on her paws, she came face to face with a long furred tabby she-cat, eyes as startling a blue as her own.

"M-mother," Violetpaw murmured, eyes widening. "W-what are y-you doing here?"

Behind the larger version of herself, Violetpaw could see Foxpaw and Mousepaw watching her with fearful eyes. She blinked at them, her tail twitching.

It was a message they understood only because they were her best friends, her closest confidants, and as they escaped into the forest Violetpaw nearly let out a sigh of relief.

She returned her eyes to her mother's.

"What were you doing out here?" Her mother's voice was a snarl, and Violetpaw could see the she-cat's claws sticking out of their sheaths. She shrunk into herself, wishing she could disappear completely.

"M-mentors s-said we did-didn't have an-any as-assignments t-to-"

"Get it out!"

"Our mentors said we didn't have anything to do today!" Violetpaw squeezed her eyes shut and crouched even lower. "It was too hot for us to do hunting patrols, so they told us to just relax. Mousepaw said we should come here, because it's so nice, the grasses are tall enough to make shadows and-"

"You should've said no. What if we'd needed an apprentice? What if there was an attack at camp?"

"Was there? Did anyone need me?" Violetpaw's voice was barely a whisper, but it was the words she said that set Dawnflower off.

"No! But they _could've_. You were supposed to be there! Haven't I taught you this? Have I not made you understand that you are meant to grow up and become more than just another warrior? Just a _mother_?"

Violetpaw whimpered, murmuring out a hushed apology.

"Quiet!" Dawnflower snapped, eyes narrowed. "If you have not learned, then I must teach you again."

Violetpaw's eyes widened even more, understanding making her shiver in fear.

"Please, mom, don't! I'll never do this again! _Never_!" Dawnflower ignored her daughter's pleas, picking her up by the scruff of her neck and lifting her off the ground. She grunted, her daughter was heavier than when she'd been just a kit, but Violetpaw's feet remained lifted off the ground, despite her struggling.

Her mother began walking, carrying her daughter towards the nearest stream. Violetpaw's screams were shushed, and although she knew if she screamed enough she'd be saved, fear of her mother's retaliation kept her quiet. Instead, she only whimpered, eyes blurring with fear and pain, since Dawnflower had to use her teeth to keep a hold of her struggling daughter.

When they reached the water, Violetpaw put up even more of a fight, she snapped and bit, losing all control of herself.

None of this stopped Dawnflower.

She was bigger, stronger, and she was determined to teach her daughter what she thought was necessary.

There will be consequences if she was not listened to.

Dawnflower dropped her daughter in the stream, watching her fall beneath the waterline without much care.

Violetpaw struggled, her eyes immediately burned as the water rushed past it. She felt her thick fur grow wet, dragging her downwards, and as she swam towards air, she saw a paw come down, shoving her back into the water.

She screeched, but the only made her lose air.

Bubbles flew up towards the surface, and Violetpaw felt her lungs begin to burn.

She thrashed more, but the paw held her down.

She began to beg, silently, knowing that her mother wouldn't hear her.

When she began to see the edges of her vision darken, she was released. She rose to the top, taking a deep breath, filling her lungs with the warm air. She gasped while her mother watched from the riverbank with cold eyes.

"Please Dawnflower I'm sor- Ah!" Dawnflower didn't let her finish, shoving her roughly back into the water.

This time Violetpaw was calmer, mostly because by now, her arms hurt from failing and she had lost so much energy in the attempt to escape. Her lungs burned instantly, tired of holding oxygen. Her mother's paw slipped, causing Violetpaw to slide backwards. Her head briefly breached the surface, but it went under again as she slammed hard into the edges of the river.

By then her mother's paw was back and she had no air to breathe.

Violetpaw felt her vision sliding again, her lungs burned.

In a daze, she found her eyes studying the crystal blue water around her. Light shone through the liquid in rays, and it seemed to ripple everywhere it went.

Violetpaw felt as if she was floating in the softest of feathers.

The feeling of Dawnflower's paw on her chest began to feel as if it wasn't there and she closed her eyes.

But before she could fall asleep she felt air rush into her lungs and the softness of grass underneath her.

Violetpaw began heaving, water pouring from her nose and mouth as she coughed and wheezed.

She suddenly realized how much pain her lungs had been in, how close to death she'd gotten.

Violetpaw locked eyes with her mother, who looked at her with a peaceful expression.

"Have you learned your lesson?"

Violetpaw didn't offer a response, simply coughing up more water. Dawnflower's ear twitched as if in amusement. Violetpaw felt a flame of hate grow in her heart. It'd been festering for a while, nothing but sparks, but Violetpaw felt that soon it'd become a blazing fire.

"Let's go back to camp."

"I'm not dry yet."

"We'll say you took a swim."

Violetpaw gave her mother another look, but it was ignored. Instead, Dawnflower pushed her daughter to her feet and began to lead her towards the camp.

When they reached the entrance Violetpaw was nearly tackled by her two friends.

Mousepaw's smothered her with her unnaturally fluffy coat. "Are you okay?"

"Why are you wet?" Foxpaw's nose wrinkled, and although her eyes traveled to her mother, neither of her friends could comprehend what had happened to her.

"I…took a swim." She said, repeating the excuse her mother had given her. Foxpaw and Mousepaw exchanged unsure glances, but neither called out her bogus story. Foxpaw shrugged, and being the ever-cheerful one, she let out a purr.

"Well we're glad your back, you nearly missed the game that Hollowblaze was going to play with all the apprentices!"

Mousepaw gave a half-hearted nod, "Yeah. You'll totally win."

"Violetpaw." Dawnflower hissed, snatching her young daughter attention. The seven moon old apprentice turned, facing her mother with a blank gaze. "You must win that game."

"What? Why?"

"It's nearly set in stone that Hollowblaze will be the next deputy. If you acquire a relationship with him, then you'll be a shoe-in for leader." Dawnflower answered.

Mousepaw and Foxpaw looked at their friend with a look of sympathy.

The stress on Violetpaw to be perfect from her mother was constantly talked about in front of the two of them.

"I'll do my best." Violetpaw said cheerfully, hoping her mother would praise her for her eagerness.

Instead, Dawnflower snorted, "Your best might not be good enough." The tabby she-cat turned on her paws, padding towards a group of senior warriors.

Violetpaw let out a frustrated breath, and then felt soft fur against her side. She turned to face Mousepaw, who touched noses with her friend.

Foxpaw followed in suit, jumping to Violetpaw's side with a giggle. "Don't worry about your stuffy mother, Violetpaw."

"Yeah!" Mousepaw purred. "You're best is fine!"

Violetpaw nodded, losing some of her sadness.

_At least my friends believe in me, even if the one person I want approval from never will._

"Violetpaw!" Hollowblaze skidded to a halt in front of the apprentices. His ear twitched with amusement at the three she-cats huddled together, although his eyes sought out Violetpaw's specifically. "I'm glad your back. Your team will need your skills."

With a respectful nod, the tom was gone, off to gather the other apprentices.

Violetpaw's eyes continued to stay wide at being addressed by one of the most handsome tom's in the clan. Her friends laughed in excitement, shoulder bumping her.

"See! I bet _Hollowblaze_ thinks you're the best."

"He's totally biased towards you because he has a crush on you!"

Violetpaw let out a purr, happiness shining in her eyes as she heard Hollowblaze's words repeat over and over again in her head.

But when she turned, almost subconsciously, she locked gazes with her mother.

The tabby she-cat was watching her with dark tinted eyes.

Eyes full of an emotion Violetpaw was quite used to seeing directed at her.

Jealousy.

_Real Time: Your Crazy is Showing_

Shimmerday took a bite of her robin, which tasted like dust in her mouth. She held it in her mouth until she could covertly spit it out.

"Hmm. Not good?" The muffled voice of a familiar tomcat came from above her and the tabby she-cat looked up, locking gazes with the blue eyed Hailstripe. He had a large rabbit in his mouth, it's feet dangling above the ground.

"How'd you catch that?" Shimmerday exclaimed, surprised.

_Rabbits are WindClan food! Did he cross the border? _The she-cat raised a brow in suspicion

"I didn't steal it," Hailstripe snorted, dropping the rabbit on the fresh kill pile, which looked miniscule beside his catch. "As if the clan needs another reason to hate me." The tom sat in front of the she-cat.

"Nah. Found it running over the Windclan Border. I did piss off the cat chasing it though." He scratched his ear casually with his back foot. A smirk finding it's way into his expression. Shimmerday rolled her eyes.

"You alone are going to start a war." The tabby she-cat snarled, shoving her half eaten robin away from her.

"That sounds like a prophecy," Russetspots mewed as she came to a stop in front of the two cats. She let out a friendly purr, greeting her friends individually. The three were still chatting when Ashwing padded forward gruffly.

"Ashwing," Hailstripe said cheerfully. "I was supposed to tell yo-"

The black tom cut him off without giving him a glance, "You shouldn't waste that." His eyes flicked to Shimmerday's meal.

She blinked, confused at Ashwing's attitude towards his brother.

Hailstripe seemed just as curious.

"Oh…Uh, it's not good." Ashwing grunted, as if the answer wasn't what he wanted to here.

"Did I do something to you? Kick you in my sleep? ..Kick you while I was awake?" Hailstripe's tail lashed a bit. "You've been like this all day."

Ashwing ignored him, eyes focused on Shimmerday.

"Violetstar would like us to take her to Whiskertail to see how he's progressing."

Hailstripe hissed, still upset over how his brother as ignoring him. "I can tell you that. He's progressing badly. What'd you expect?"

"Why us?" Shimmerday asked. _Mother doesn't want me around Whisertailm doesn't hse remember?_

"I'm not sure. She specifically asked for you though."

"Why does she want to see Whiskertail anyway? It could be contagious."

:No one else has caught it yet."

"Yeah, well who knows, maybe its a matter of time. Maybe it waited inside of Whiskertail for moons."

"Stop being so dramatic, Hailstripe. There's no way that makes sense."

"How do you know? Perhaps one more cat will get sick, or perhaps everyone has it and it's just a matter of time befor-"

A loud wail sounded across the clearing, causing the cats to look for the sound.

"What was that?" Shimmerday asked, ears wide, swiveling around to search for the mysterious scream.

"I think it's coming from the warriors den."

"Squirrelpool? Squirrelpool!" The next scream sounded familiar to Shimmerday. She knew it was Mouseheart's voice, Ashwing and Hailstripe's mother.

Boh Ashwing and Hailstripe moved towards the den one after the other. After a pause, Shimmerday followed,

Her eyes found Squirrelpool writhing painfully in her moss bed. Her paws were lashing out, claws unsheathed and scratching. Occasionally a claw would find itself stuck in it's owners flesh, causing the cat to scream out as if someone else had done it.

"Get away from me!" She hissed, her eyes glazed over. "You won't take me!" She lashed out again, but instead her claws found her own face. She screamed, a horrible noise that caused all the cats near to wince in pain.

"Somebody calm her down! The cats are panicking!" Violetstar erupted into the den, her violet coat fluffed up in anger and shock.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Shimmerday asked, watching her clanmate lash out towards Mouseheart.

"Get away from me Mousepaw!" The cat hissed, then turned her head towards the clan leader. "_You_. I know what you've done! I saw you that night! You think you can keep it a secret? Ha! You can't! You can't and you never can!"

"What is she talking about?" Shimmerday mewed, turning towards her mother. However, it seemed Shimmerday was the only one questioning in pure innocence.

"Yeah, Violetstar, what is she talking about?" Hailstripe asked, accusations forming in his eyes.

Violetstar didn't respond, instead she glared at the she-cat sick with insanity. Suddenly Russetspots burst into the den.

"What's wrong wi- holy StarClan." Her eyes widened after spotting the crazy cat.

"Take her to Whiskertail, leave the two of them together. I think this could be contagious."

"So what? We're all quarantined?" Mouseheart hissed, anger sparking from her coat.

"No. It's too late for that. Squirrelpool has been everywhere, and this den has to have been contaminated. It might also be something they've eaten. We'll just have to wait and see."

"We could ask ShadowClan," Ashwing offered. "I'd be glad to go."

Violetstar nodded, "That's a good idea, Ashwing. Take a few warriors with you. Preferably ones you know have aready been in contact with the disease."

"I'll go." Hailstripe offered. "I've seen enough crazies recently, I won't mind seeing a few more."

Ashwing glared at his brother, but Violetstar was nodding, already agreeing with Hailstripe's choice.

"Perhaps just a few more, Ashwing. Not too many."

"Yes, Violetstar." Ashwing responded.

"Before you go, Ashwing, help me out a little, okay? Squirrelpool is too heavy for me." Ashwing nodded, moving to help the medicine cat. Violetstar let out a sigh, shoulders drooping.

It was as if the problems of the clan were too much for her to bear.

"Get Robintail," She murmured. "I think it's time for a clan meeting..."


End file.
